Teen Titans Again
by GenericX
Summary: What happens when a rare and strange jewel is stolen from Jump City's museum? Chaos ensures! Pairings: TerraBB, RobStar. Rated T for later chapters. Chapter 20 up!
1. A New Day

Ok, here is my first attempt at a story on FanFiction. I know it sucks, but I'll try to make it suck less later on. Anyways, the pairings here are: Terra/BB, and (some) Rob/Star. Please read & review! Flames accepted; I learn from my mistakes. xD

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Teen Titans.

**Teen Titans Again**

**Chapter 1: A New Day**

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The early morning sun started to rise, eliminating the last darkness of the night. The people in Jump City were waking up to a new day, ready to go on to their regular activities. Everything was normal, except at Titans Tower.

"I say tofu!" Beastboy yelled.

"No, we are having waffles!" Cyborg countered.

"Tofu!"

"Waffles!"

A usual, Beastboy and Cyborg were having their regular breakfast argument. By this time, Robin awoke and arrived at the kitchen. Finally deciding enough was enough, Robin cut their little quarrel.

"Will you two just be quiet?! You probably awoke everyone within a five mile radius!" Robin hollered at the top of his lungs. "Can't you guys just toss a coin or something? Seriously, the rest of the Titans are going to be pissed off if you wake them."

As on cue, the Raven entered the kitchen, looking rather tired and annoyed at the same time. She had the look of pure annoyance, and walked over to Beastboy and Cyborg, ready to give them a nice, long scolding.

"Let me put it this way. If you two don't shut up, I'm going to pelt you with those frying pans in the oven!" Raven proclaimed, getting ready to use her dark magic. Beastboy and Cyborg immediately quit arguing. Raven, pleased with her efforts, quietly sat down at the table. Just then, Starfire and Terra both came down from their rooms.

Starfire, looked like she was fully rested. Terra on the other hand, seemed as if she only slept about two hours at most. Seeing Beastboy and Cyborg not yelling at each other, which is a rare event indeed, Starfire offered to make the team breakfast. Having no other options, other then Raven creaming them if they started arguing again, Beastboy and Cybord agreed.

Beastboy sat next to Terra, as usual. "Slept well, Terra?" Beastboy inquired the blonde, with a smirk on his face after seeing her so drowsy.

"Oh yeah, I had the most peaceful sleep of my life!" Terra mumbled sarcastically. "Let me guess, you were arguing with Cyborg again?"

Beastboy replied, "Yeah, same argument as always, even though I think tofu tastes 100 times better than some boring waffles." Cyborg didn't look too happy at Beastboy's remark. He was about to say something against tofu, but stopped after seeing the look of warning on Raven's face. Instead, he muttered something about food to himself. Robin couldn't help but chuckle at Cyborg's expression.

"I have finished making our morning meal, friends!" Starfire happly announced as she set some weird cereal in the middle of the table. It looked like oatmeal, with random spots of light pink, sky blue, and lime green. The Titans didn't even ask Starfire what was in the cereal, considering they might barf if they found out what the ingredients were. Raven had a look of pure disgust, and excused herself.

After breakfast, the rest of the Titans went about doing their regular activities around the Tower. Terra was watching MTV on the couch, and Beastboy floated over and sat next to her with hearts in his eyes.

"So, how do you like being part of the Titans?" Beastboy questioned quickly, since he couldn't think of anything else to say at the moment. The way the sun shone on her golden blonde hair made Beastboy wonder just how beautiful she looked. 'Wow, she looks like a goddess!' Beastboy thought in his mind.

"It's been great! I'm happy I decided to stay, and I thank you all for allowing me. And thanks for convincing me, BB." Terra replied with a giggle after seeing the funny look on his face. Now that she thought about it, Beastboy did look really adorable. He was pretty much the person that paid most attention to her from the day she met the Titans. His jokes were hilarious, he was very optimistic, well, most of the time anyway, and just a great person to be around overall. From his actions, she could tell that Beastboy had a giant crush on her. She also felt the same about him.

The two just sat there staring at each other, neither having anything to say. Out of nowhere, Cyborg stuck his head between them, a teasing look on his face.

"Oh, sorry to break up the lovefest here!" Chuckled Cyborg. Beastboy and Terra quickly looked away, both blushing crimson red. "Ey Beastboy, I bet I can whoop ya record in that video game again!" Cyborg said with triumph.

"Oh yeah, well I can beat you anytime, any place!" Beastboy countered, still blushing a bit. "C'mon, I'll play you right now!"

All of a sudden, the alarms went off and the Tower flashed red. Robin came running to where the three Titans were.

"Sorry guys, you can play video games later. Right now, we have a call that someone, or something as a matter of fact, is attacking the museum at Jump City! I already alerted Star and Raven. We have to go, now!" Robin announced in a hurried voice.

"Aww, darn it! I was gonna own Beastboy today!" Cyborg said with disappointment in his voice.

"Yeah right, only in your wildest dreams, Cyborg!" Beastboy argued.

Terra just rolled her eyes. "You'll see who's better than who later. There's no time now!" she said, grabbing Beastboy's hand (which made the both blush deep red once again) and dragging him away from Cyborg to the exit where Starfire and Raven were waiting.

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Ok, that was chapter 1. The next one should finally have some fighting scenes, etc. I'll try to update soon, if I'm not too lazy. ;)


	2. Trouble Arises

Ok, so here is chapter 2! This chapter contains some fighting scenes (not too much, yet), etc. I have tons of ideas for this story, hopefully you'll enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, and probably never will.

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Chapter 2: Trouble Arises

"Ok, guys, we have to go to the Jump City Rock Museum. That's where the trouble supposedly is." Robin said after all the Titans regrouped. "A prized gem has been stolen, and it looks like it is going to cause quite an uproar."

After his briefing, the Titans hopped in the T-Car and zoomed off for the museum. Upon their arrival, the Titans found the entrance to the museum completely destroyed. It looked as though something large had charged right through the doors.

"Doesn't look good." Raven commented after she saw the scene. "Hey, look at this stuff on the ground, looks familiar." The dark witch pointed towards the ground near the entrance, where small pieces of purple sludge were scattered. "It could only be one thing..."

"Plasmus." Robin finished. "Obviously, whatever he's stolen must be important. C'mon, let's have a look inside and see what was exactly stolen."

The Titans walked into the museum, and it didn't look too good inside either. The entire floor was covered with broken glass that shattered from the exhibit windows. Also, there were some more piles of sludge all over the walls, floor, and around the main pedestal that once held the museum's rarest jewel, the Gem of Chaos. As soon as the museum's caretaker saw the Titans, he quickly ran up to them, being careful to avoid any broken glass.

"You must help us! Some purple sludge... thing came in here and destroyed every exhibit." the nervous caretaker said to Robin. "He stole the Gem of Chaos, and that's worth at least a billion dollars!"

"Don't worry, we'll find out who did this crime." (though the Titans already knew it was Plasmus) Robin replied. And with that, the caretaker thanked them and ran off to the police to start complaining.

"I don't get it, why would Plasmus want that gem? I mean, he can't exactly walk into a jeweler shop and sell it, can he?" Terra questioned.

"No, there is something strange about that gem. I'm not sure either what Plasmus would want but..." Robin stopped talking as he realized that the floor started to rumble. "Ok, looks like we'll find out soon enough!"

A giant crack formed in the center of the floor, and the sewage pipes below the museum burst, letting go a flow of sewer water. As if things couldn't get worse, Plasmus jumped out of the crack. However, Plasmus didn't look just purple and slime covered anymore. His usual violet color was now replaced with a laser green color, and apparently there was acid now covering him instead of sludge. With a load roar, he threw a punch at the group of Titans.

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted his well known phrase as the Titans all jumped out of the way.

"Man, and I thought Plasmus was already bad enough!" Beastboy exclaimed as he dodged an acid ball shot by the creature.

Raven used her dark powers to raise all the broken pieces of glass and threw them like arrows at Plasmus. The glass flew right into its throat, and he yelled out in pain. However, just when the Titans thought they had defeated Plasmus again, he surprised them all and blasted the broken glass back at the Titans, this time with apparently poisonous slime at the tips. Raven once again used her powers to form a shield that blocked the pieces flying at her. Robin threw some of his freezing discs (A/N: is that what the disks are called?) to deflect the glass flying at him while Starfire threw lightning to help block the larger ones. Cyborg, Beastboy, and Terra managed to dive out of the way and avoid the glass flying at them.

Seeing his opportunity, Cyborg bounced back on his feet and fired his sonic cannon at Plasmus, who failed to block the shot and got thrown back at least ten feet.

"Yeah, all right!" Cyborg exclaimed with happiness. "Who's the master now, sludge ball? Heh heh!"

However, Cyborg's happiness faded away as Plasmus now jumped up in the air and started shooting acid balls at random. Cyborg managed to blast away anything that came his way, while still firing shots at Plasmus. Starfire was already busy blocking the acid balls that came her way, but she neglected to notice that the ground beneath her was already starting to crumble away into the sewer water below it. Robin, noticing this, used his moves to dodge anything that Plasmus shot, and managed to push Starfire out of the way as the ground collapsed.

"You ok, Star?" Robin asked Starfire with care in his voice.

Starfire looked at him and smiled sweetly. "Yes, I am undamaged. Thank you for pushing me out of the way; I would probably have been killed!" Robin smiled back and helped her up. The both of them then resumed fighting Plasmus.

Terra now stood close to the crack's edge and summoned a large boulder, hurling it at Plasmus's right leg, hoping to knock him back into the crack. At the same time, Beastboy transformed into a rhinoceros and charged full speed at Plasmus's left leg. Both the boulder and transformed Beastboy collided into Plasmus's legs, sending him flying into the crack. However, after she launched the boulder, Terra was about to fall into the crack with Plasmus as the ground beneath her gave way from the shock of Plamsus's fall.

'Oh no, this looks like the end...' Terra thought as stood on the collapsing ground, too shocked to move. "Ah, help!" Terra yelled out in panic. Suddenly, she felt herself flying through the air. "Huh? What? Am I dead?" Terra asked aloud.

"No, you're alive! I thought that I'd lost you there for a second." a voice said. Terra opened her eyes and found that she was being held by a transformed Beastboy as he flew to solid ground in a flying creature form. He then let her go as he transformed back into his human form. Terra gave him a huge hug after he finished transforming.

"Thank you so much Beastboy!" Terra whispered as she rested her head on Beastboy's shoulder.

"You're welcome. Heh, besides, I would never let you get hurt!" Beastboy whispered, stroking her hair. Terra looked at Beastboy, a small smile on her face.

"Really?" she asked quietly.

"I promise. And this is one promise I won't ever break." Beastboy replied.

The two wished the moment would never end, but another load roar from Plasmus shook them back to reality. Terra gave Beastboy a quick kiss on the cheek, smiled lovingly at him, and ran back to help in the battle. Beastboy finally snapped out of his trance and realized that Plasmus was still alive, so he joined the rest of the Titans shortly.

Plasmus was about to pull himself into a compact form and jump out of the crack again, but was stopped by Cyborg's sonic cannon. Starfire shot beams out of her eyes while Raven magicked some sharp rocks from the exhibits and blasted them at Plasmus's head. Terra used this rare opportunity to command the ground on either side of the crack to close in. Plasmus now realized that he had no chance of winning this battle. He gave one final roar, descended into the sewers below, and ran away. But before he did, a green colored gemstone flew out of him and into Robin's hand. The Titans were quite glad to get rid of Plasmus once again, as he was not the most pleasant villain to be around.

"He's probably going back to Slade again. I can imagine how angry Slade will get when he hears that Plasmus failed again to destroy us, and that he lost the Gem of Chaos!" Robin said with a smirk on his face with examining the Gem of Chaos in his hand..

"Yeah, and now I can finally whoop Beastboy's butt in his own video game!" Cyborg said with excitement in his voice. Robin and Terra had to restrain Beastboy from running up and tackling Cyborg.

"Just you wait..." Beastboy said quietly with a hint of anger in his tone.

"Ok Titans, I guess we are done here. Let's go get something to eat, I'm starved." Robin said.

Just as the Titans were walking out of the museum, the entire building began to rumble. Then two figures burst through the floor and and stood right next to the now sealed crack where Plasmus escaped. The Titans couldn't see them clearly because of the dust coming from the hole where the two figures burst from.

"Uh, who is it now? Jinx? Gismo? Overload?" Cyborg questioned impatiently.

However, the two figures didn't resemble Jinx nor Gismo, not even Overload. As soon as the dust began to clear, the Titans were rather taken back. They apparently never seen these new people before, and Robin assumed they must be working for Slade.

"Well hello there Titans. Nice to meet you." said the first person. He looked about six and a half feet tall, with metal armor all over his body that shone a tint of gold in the sunlight. As a matter of fact, this didn't look like a person at tall. It looked more like a robot, but he spoke in a human voice and not a robotic one. On top of both of his hands were neon blue claws that were about a foot long. His eyes were glowing red, and he didn't seem too friendly looking. He wore a black and silver cape that flew lightly in the breeze.

"My name is Breaker. And my partner here is called Kulex." Breaker said. Kulex was very different from his partner. Kulex was about seven feet tall and had almost no type of armor on, except for the dark navy blue body armor he wore. He had long brown hair that fell to his upper back, and he had a dark brown cloak on with a hood that cast a shadow on his eyes, shielding them from view. In his left hand, he clutched a long, silver sword that looked razor sharp. He spoke in an unforgiving tone.

"Yes, the name is Kulex, and I believe that you have something that we need, Robin." Kulex said in his low, hoarse voice. Robin looked a little nervous since Kulex knew his name without even asking him.

"How, how did you know my name?" Robin asked.

"That is not important, young fighter. What is important is that you give us that gemstone you hold." Kulex replied in an even lower voice.

"First off, who are you two?" Cyborg asked, daring to step up. "And what the hell do you want with the Gem of Chaos?"

"You do not know of the powers possessed within that particular gem. We ask that all you do is hand it over, and we shall depart." Breaker said calmly in his strange human voice.

"Don't do it Robin..." Starfire whispered in Robin's ear.

"Star, it's okay, I won't give it to him." Robin replied.

"Oh yes you will. Otherwise we'll just have to forcefully take it from you." Kulex said. "And yes, Robin, I _can_ read your mind, so don't even try to conceal any information from us."

The Titans looked uncomfortable after that last statement. However, Robin had other plans.

"No way. You can't have the Gem, you work for Slade, don't you?" Robin inquired with suspicion.

"Slade? No, we work for someone much more powerful then that fool Slade. However, our time is short. We will give you three seconds to hand over the gem." Kulex said, getting a bit frustrated.

"If you work for someone more powerful than Slade, then I guess it means that you must be evil. There is no way you are getting this gem." Robin said, even though he didn't look too hopeful right about now.

"Fine. You made us do this. Breaker, allow me to take care of this. Go back to Lord Firesprite (A/N: Heh, I'm crappy at coming up with names) and tell him we shall have the Gem shortly." Kulex muttered.

"Ok, you got it. We'll be waiting for your arrival." Breaker replied, and with that, he turned a dark blue color and warped away. Kulex now turned to Robin, who was about to ask who Lord Firesprite was.

"Don't ask. You will find out later." Kulex said quickly. "And now, prepare to feel extreme pain." Kulex put on a wicked smile and lifted his free hand into the air. He charged up a blood red energy ball, and without warning, fired it at Robin's chest. It collided in a matter of nanoseconds. Robin was sent flying and landed some fifty feet away. The gem flew right into Kulex's outstretched hand.

"Maybe now you will learn not to mess around with people stronger than you. Stay away from us and you won't get hurt, at least for now anyways." Kulex said, with the gem held tightly in his free hand. Beastboy, courage getting the best of him, ran right up to Kulex.

"Listen here, wizard-boy. Give us the gem back now or face the consequences!" Beastboy voiced. Kulex just chuckled, and struck Beastboy with a vertical swing of his sword, giving him a deep gash on the upper right shoulder. Beastboy collapsed to the floor, and Terra and Raven ran up to him. Kulex then teleported away.

"Ok, he'll pay for that!" Beastboy said through gritted teeth.

Terra just lightly hugged him, hoping not to hurt Beastboy. "Don't _ever_ do that again! You could have got yourself seriously hurt! Who knows what that guy is capable of. Please, don't do that; I couldn't bare loosing you." Terra said with tears in her eyes.

"Sigh, ok, sorry for scaring you like that." Beastboy replied, now looking a bit worse from blood loss. Terra then kissed him on the cheek like she did before and kneeled beside him. Raven, who was now looking rather bored, started to heal Beasboy's wound with her magic.

"There. Just don't do anything extreme with that arm for awhile." Raven said in her monotone voice.

By now Robin had recovered, though he wasn't injured too badly from Kulex's attack, and returned with Starfire and Cyborg to meet up with the other three Titans.

"Damn, he got away with that gem. I still am not too sure as to what the Gem of Chaos does, but let's go back to the Tower and rest from the fight." Robin said. Everyone gladly agreed, and the Titans jumped back into the T-Car, returning to Titans Tower.

No one felt like talking about the fight, the two new villains, nor the Gem of Chaos. They were pretty much completely exhusted. So instead of eating supper, the Titans simply went to their rooms, ready for a nice long rest. On the way to his room, Terra caught up with Beastboy, who was about to ask if she was alright.

"Oh, by the way, thanks again for saving me when we fought Plasmus, BB" Terra said lovingly to Beastboy before hugging him and running off to her room. Beastboy just stood there with hearts in his eyes, again. She giggled after seeing his face and disappeared into her room.

Who exactly is Breaker and Kulex, and who is the mysterious person they work for? Stay tuned for the next chapters!

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Well, there you go. I kinda made this chapter a bit longer, and am hoping the next one will be even longer. But I can't promise anything. xD


	3. The Gem of Power

Aight, here is the next chapter. I have no intention of ending this fic anytime soon since I just got a ton of new ideas. Heh heh...

Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

A special thanks to D-I-WaRrIa for the encouraging review! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

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Chapter 3: The Gem of Power

Early the next morning, Robin was awake and by his computer, trying to find out about the two strangers that attacked them the previous day. He had been researching for at least two hours, and by now he was starting to become frustrated from the lack of information.

Robin yawned and rubbed his eyes. 'Sigh, there is no way I'm gonna find anything right now. Maybe they won't come back, or maybe they'll attack the city again. And who is Lord Firesprite anyway? They definitely don't work for Slade, but this Firesprite person sounds dangerous.'

"Robin, breakfast is ready!" Beastboy shouted. Robin simply stretched his arms and decided to join the Titans, hopefully they would want to talk about Kulex and Breaker.

However, Beastboy and Cyborg had already finished eating and were playing video games again. Raven also finished and was reading some kind of book on the couch. Terra was just finishing up her cereal, about to go watch Beastboy and Cyborg. 'Hmm, I don't feel like bothering everyone with that fight again, I'll talk about it later.' Robin thought.

"Robin, I can see that you are troubled. What is wrong?" Starfire asked as she walked up to Robin.

"Huh? Oh, hey Star." Robin replied.

"I can see that you are thinking about something. Are you still wondering about the fight yesterday?"

"Well, yeah. I was up since six this morning trying to research something about them. I found nothing, it's like no one knows about them. But I now know for sure that they don't work for Slade, nor do they even have an alliance with him. This Firesprite person has to be even stronger and more powerful then Slade. I just hope they don't do something dangerous with the Gem of Chaos."

"Don't worry Robin, we'll find out who they are and defeat them like we did to all the other enemies!" Starfire said with a delightful smile. Robin couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Robin said. Starfire gave him a quick hug and walked over to a rather bored Raven, ready to start talking about Tamaranian related things. 'Heh, Star always finds a way to cheer me up." Robin thought happily as he took his mind off the Gem of Chaos.

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(At Lord Firesprite's palace)

"My lord, we have recovered the gem." Kulex said as he and Breaker both bowed down before a large throne. The room itself was huge, with marble pillars and golden walls. In the center, there stood a large throne which was next to an advanced looking computer.

"Excellent work. You shall be rewarded greatly. Now we must continue with phase two of the master plan. I need you two to complete another task." Lord Firesprite said in a low voice.

"Whatever it is, we shall complete it as quickly as possible." Breaker responded.

"Good. What I need you to do is to get over to the chemical plant in Jump City and fetch the Gem of Power from there. With this jewel, and with the Gem of Chaos as well as one final jewel, they will merge together and we shall possess the most powerful crystal in the world!" Firesprite said with a small chuckle.

"We're on it." Breaker said before he and Kulex both teleported out.

"Not even the Teen Titans stand in my way now..." Firesprite muttered to himself.

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(Back at Titans Tower)

"Ha! Beat you again!" Cyborg cheered as he just creamed Beastboy again in Killer Instinct Gold (A/N That's from Nintendo 64, love that game ).

"Grr, whatever. I'll beat you now though; I'm finally getting the hang of this game." Beastboy said, ready to play again.

"Heh heh, sorry to break your confidence, but I gotta go recharge back at my room." And with that, Cyborg was already running off to his room.

"Stupid metal man, too scared to play me again..." Beastboy grumbled to himself. Terra now sat down on the couch next to Beastboy.

"Still arguing over that same game?" Terra asked as she moved closer to Beastboy.

"Yeah, I knew I was gonna beat him this time, but he just runs off." Beastboy replied, his anger dieing down.

"Don't worry, you'll get him next time!" Terra said as she snuggled into Beastboy's chest. "And try to relax, it's just a game after all."

"Ok then, but he's going down next time!" Beastboy said while he wrapped his arms around Terra, rubbing her back. Terra rested her head on his chest, getting comfortable.

"Hey BB..." Terra whispered quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Could you do "the face" again?" She asked with a smile, referring to Beastboy's irresistible kitten face.

"Sure, here goes!" Beastboy let Terra go and transformed into a small kitten, with a very cute face. Terra giggled and hugged him again as he transformed back. However, their moment didn't last too long. Once again, the alarms in the Tower went off.

"Uh oh, looks like trouble." Terra commented as she and Beastboy stood up when Robin came running out of his room.

"It's Breaker and Kulex again! C'mon, we have to hurry and stop them before they cause more trouble!" Robin said as he gasped for breath. "I'll get the rest of the Titans, you guys get ready to go to the Chemical Plant, that's where they are right now."

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A few moments later, everyone was in the T-Car, already speeding off to get to the Chemical Plant. When they arrived, everything seemed calm, a little too calm.

"I think we got here early." Raven said in her usual monotone voice. For a second, Robin and the rest of the Titans thought this was a false alarm, but about twenty seconds later, there was a loud crash.

"Spoke too soon..." Cyborg added as the large cloud of dust cleared, revealing two shapes exiting through the now destroyed Chemical Plant entrance. One was holding a bright, ruby red gem in his hand that illuminated the two people's faces. "Oh no, it's _them_ again!" Cyborg said.

"Lord Firesprite will be quite pleased. Now that the Gem of Power in our possession, all that is left is the Gem of Strength according to Firesprite's plan. I myself don't know what the final result will be after they merge, but I will patiently wait." said one voice, which turned out to belong to Breaker after the dust cleared. Kulex was right behind him.

"Yes, the final, merged crystal must hold some extreme power if it's so important to Lord Firesprite." Kulex said.

It was then that Robin realized that Kulex and Breaker were up to no good. The Titans stood ready to confront them. After seeing the Titans, Kulex and Breaker stopped in their tracks.

"Well, so you guys are stealing priceless gemstones again. We won't let you get away with this one!" Robin announced to the pair of mysterious fighters. However, Kulex and Breaker just chuckled, not taking Robin's words too seriously.

"Well Robin, all I can say is that you and your group of friends have interfered with our plans for the last time." Kulex said with a bit of anger. "Now we will eliminate you forever."

"I recommend you Titans stop messing around with issues that don't concern you, and if..."

"This **does** concern us! You have no right to be endangering the lives of innocents for your own schemes!" Breaker was interrupted by Starfire's words of anger. She then jumped into the air and charged at Breaker, firing green beams of lightning at him. Breaker didn't seem impressed.

"You have much to learn. Allow us to teach you." Breaker said as he blocked Starfire's beams without a problem. Just as Starfire got close enough to attack him close-range, Breaker grabbed her by the throat with one hand and sent channels of blue colored electricity at her. Starfire could only scream out in pain as the electricity surged through her body.

"I see that you now understand that you should not be interfering with our plans. This is your final chance to leave." Breaker said as he dropped a now shaken Starfire. Robin immediately ran up and caught her before she fell.

"Starfire! Are you okay?!" Robin quickly asked the Tamaranian girl while he held her close to him.

"Yes, I am not damaged that severely. Thank you for catching me." Starfire replied with a weak voice. Robin smiled and hugged her tightly.

"I'm going to take Star back to the Tower; she doesn't look like in any condition to fight these guys. Can you handle them without us for a while?" Robin asked the other Titans while he gathered up Starfire in his arms.

"Sure, just make sure you get her back safely; we'll be fine." Terra said.

"Yeah, we will take care of these lunatics. Don't worry about us, take as much time as ya'll need." Cyborg said, getting his sonic cannon ready.

"Ok, take care. I'll be back as soon as I can." Robin said, and with that he starting heading for Titans Tower.

"Well well, it seems that we already got rid of two Titans. Now since Robin is gone, we should be able to kill the rest of you with no trouble." Kulex said, as he charged at Cyborg with his sword ready to strike.

"Don't get any ideas!" Cyborg said as he fired his sonic cannon at full power, aiming right at Kulex's approaching body. There was a giant blast, but Kulex jumped up into the air from the cloud of smoke, undamaged.

"What?! How did you do that?!" Cyborg asked with panic. Kulex then landed right next to him, slashing his sword horizontally across Cyborg's upper arm. He left a deep hole, exposing some of Cyborg's robotic wiring. Cyborg clutched his arm, but refused to be struck again by Kulex's sword. He blocked his next swing, and countered with a blast from his cannon. This time, however, Kulex was not prepared and got hit square in the chest with the beam, sending him flying back and hitting the ground hard.

"Hmm, seems that you indeed have some potential in you, but that is nothing compared to my power." Kulex said as he stood back up.

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(Near Titans Tower)

"Don't worry Star, we're almost there..." Robin quietly whispered to Starfire as he headed for Titans Tower. Finally, about twenty minutes after leaving the other Titans to battle Breaker and Kulex, he and Starfire arrived at the Tower.

Robin walked in and placed Starfire on the couch, covering her with a blanket. Starfire seemed to wake up, looking a bit better.

"Robin, where are we?" Starfire barely managed to speak.

"Shh, save your strength. We are back at the Tower, I brought you here from the fight"

"But... what about the others? Will they be okay?"

"Yeah, I hope so. Anyways, like I said save your energy and rest. You took quite a hit there."

"Umm, Robin?" Starfire asked as she made herself comfortable.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for bringing me back..." Starfire whispered with a smile.

Robin also smiled lightly. "You're welcome. Now rest and save your strength." Robin then kissed her lightly on her forehead, and prepared to return to the battle.

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(Back at the battle)

While Kulex started to once again fight with Cyborg, Breaker decided that this was taking much longer than expected, and Lord Firesprite doesn't like delays. Breaker then went after Beastboy and Terra.

Beastboy transformed into a giant gorilla and tried to grab Breaker, but he was too quick for him. Breaker dodged Beastboy's grab as well as several large stones shot by Terra and ended up behind Beastboy. As soon as Beastboy turned around, Breaker did an uppercut into the transformed gorilla's jaw, forcing Beastboy to transform back into his human form. Now that he was close enough, Breaker shot two laser beams out of his eyes, both hitting the unsuspecting Beastboy directly in his knees, making him fall down in pain. Terra, seeing this, tried to run over to Beastboy to help him, but Breaker sent a blue beam at her, which she blocked with some summoned rocks. To buy some more time, she summoned one huge boulder from behind Breaker and sent it right at his back, making direct contact with his robotic spine. He was sent flying high into the air. Now that Breaker was temporarily in the air, Terra ran over to Beastboy.

"Beastboy, are you alright?!" Terra asked with concern after she saw his condition. Beastboy still had a rather unpleasant gash under his jaw from Breaker's uppercut. Also, his knees were mildly bruised from the laser beams.

"Yeah, I think so" Beastboy said through gritted teeth as he slowly stood up, being helped by Terra. He walked a few steps around, and even though his knees felt painful, it wasn't too bad. "Ok, looks like I can still walk! Where is that robot guy?"

"I sent him flying into the air on a boulder, but he should be back soon. Are you positive you are ok?" Terra asked once again.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Beastboy replied with a confident smile. Terra gave him a loving hug. The both of them looked and saw something flying back down to the ground. "And it looks like he's coming right now..." Terra said.

As on cue, Breaker landed hard on the ground a few feet away from Terra and Beastboy. He began countering and attacking the two Titans' moves. Beastboy spared a glance to see how Cyborg and Raven were handling Kulex, but it didn't look too good either.

Kulex was now closing in on Cyborg, swinging his sword vertically and horizontally at the retreating Titan. Kulex had the advantage here since he had a sword, and Cyborg didn't have any close range weapons apart from his sonic cannon, which he kept shooting at Kulex occasionally. Raven, who was pelting Kulex with various magicked items, now decided it was time for a more direct approach. She floated behind Kulex, and shot a magicked fence pole at him. Since Kulex was too busy fighting Cyborg, he stumbled forward from the impact of the pole against his back. Cyborg saw his chance and fired his sonic cannon full power at Kulex, sending him flying into one of the chemical plant's walls.

Breaker saw this, and abandoned his fight with Terra and Beastboy. He flew over to where Kulex was getting up.

Breaker was the first to speak. "It seems we have underestimated you. But luckily for us, we have a power enhancement form that we can use, two in fact! So now behold our ultimate power!" With that, beams of black light surrounded both Breaker and Kulex. Breaker turned a tint of gold darker, and his blue claws now shone even brighter. His eyes turned a shade of deep red and he grew about an inch taller. Kulex's sword now became about a foot longer and three inches wider. His eyes now shone a the same color as Breaker's. Although those were the only physically changes, Kulex now acquired the ability to use mind to control his sword movements as well as his speed. This, combined with the ability to read minds, gave him a great advantage since he could counter anyone's moves.

The two newly enhanced fighters now stood up and prepared to battle the Titans all over again.

To be continued...

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And there ends chapter 3. I just love cliffhangers, well not really, but I felt like ending the chapter there for some reason. Anyways, stay tuned for the next chapter!


	4. Mysteries Revealed

School was weighing me down, so it took awhile to write this chapter. Sorry bout that. Anyways, please review, I beg you! Ok, I'll shut up now. ;D

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

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Chapter 4: Mysteries Revealed

The four Titans were awestruck. Kulex and Breaker were already hard enough in their normal forms, but how tough would they be in this enhanced form? Breaker launched the first attack. He teleported and appeared behind Raven, then did a slide charge with one of his clawed hands stretched out in front of him like a spear. Breaker hit Raven with such force that the dark witch went crashing into the ground, leaving a deep crater. Kulex now also teleported, and instead appeared right over Beastboy. He dove down, slashing his sword, cutting right into Beastboy's left shoulder, close to his neck. From the extreme pain as well as exhaustion, Beastboy collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Neither Cyborg nor Terra knew what happened before they too were thrown into the air by Breaker's super plasma slice, which was similar to his uppercut except now with much more force. Cyborg landed and rebounded, firing his cannon Kulex. The beam hit him head on, but didn't even leave a scratch.

"Wow, what the?!" Cyborg was shocked to see one of his best attacks fail. Kulex just flashed a wicked smile before telepathically making Cyborg crash down into the ground hard. Terra was now floating on a summoned boulder, and summoned a large, sharp stone that she aimed at Breaker. The alien robot caught it with his metallic hands, and chucked it right back at Terra, who was immediately thrown off her boulder and sent towards the unforgiving earth below her.

When all the Titans were on the ground, most unable to move, Kulex and Breaker went in for the kill. Just as Kulex was about to plunge his sword into Cyborg's skull and Breaker about to slice Beastboy into pieces, Breaker's communicator rang. Lord Firesprite appeared on the screen, and he did not look too happy.

"Where are you two? I told you to get the damned jewel, does it really take you that long just to get it?!" Lord Firesprite roared.

"We are very sorry, my lord. We just ran into a... minor interference." Breaker responded.

"You see, the Teen Titans showed..." Kulex began.

"I could care less who it is! Just drop whatever you are doing and get your asses over here! **Now**!" Firesprite yelled back. He then disconnected from Breaker's communicator.

"Come, we must deliver the Gem of Power to Lord Firesprite before he goes nuclear on us again." Breaker said to Kulex.

"But look, we practically have the Titans dead!" Kulex countered.

"Doesn't matter, we could kill them at a later time. Now let's go." Breaker said. Kulex, having little options, agreed. The two of them teleported out.

By now, Robin had reached the battle. "Hey guys, I'm... back?" Robin stopped talking as he saw the scene before him. All the Titans except Raven and Terra were down on the ground. Raven was slowly moving to each of them, trying her best to heal each one.

"Raven, Terra! What happened?!" Robin asked as he ran over to help Cyborg up as he became conscious again.

Terra was barely able to talk out loud. "Kulex and Breaker... they transformed... and were too powerful for us..." She then almost fell unconscious, but Raven came and healed her a bit, restoring some energy. She thanked Raven, and crawled over to where Beastboy was laying.

"Beastboy?" She shook him lightly, but he didn't wake up. "Beastboy, please wake up... please..." Tears started to stream down her face as she hugged the shapeshifter. By now, Beastboy had woken up, and noticed that Terra was crying. He sat up and hugged her tightly (A/N, like in the episode "Terra" xD). Terra snuggled into his warm chest and cried on his shoulder. Beastboy rested his head on hers, and rubbed her back soothingly.

"It's ok... just let your emotions out, you'll feel better..." Beastboy gently whispered. Terra just continued to cry, but started to stop soon. Beastboy felt a bit relieved that Terra stopped since he hated to see her like this. Even though she stopped crying, Terra still stayed in Beastboy's arms.

While Beastboy was comforting Terra, Cyborg and Raven finished explaining to Robin what was going on while he was away. "And then he just hit me and Terra with some kind of move and we were sent into the air. I tried firing my cannon at Kulex, but the beam hit him and did nothing. Then everything went black..." Cyborg said.

"Their enhanced form must be partially powered by that gem they stole. And according to their conversation, they will be looking for the Gem of Strength if I heard correctly when they were talking." Raven said.

Robin was deep in thought. "You know what, where do you think the Gem of Strength could be? If we manage to find out it's location, then we can get there and take the gem before Breaker and Kulex do."

Cyborg and Raven seemed to understand Robin's idea. "Hmm, if the Gem of Chaos was kept in the museum, and the Gem of Power was used in the Chemical Plant to fuel some of the machinery, then the Gem of Strength could be anywhere..." Cyborg voiced his thoughts on the issue. "Oh by the way, how's Star doing?"

"She's much better, sleeping now I think. But getting back to the topic, we have to find out where the final gem is, and if we do, we have to get it before it's too late." Robin said, and then continued to think about the Gem of Strength's location.

Terra finally calmed down in Beastboy's arms. She broke the hug and sat up, looking at Beastboy with a soft smile. Beastboy in turn, returned the smile. "I thought that Breaker had killed you back there, but thank goodness he didn't or I don't know what I would do without you."

"Don't worry Terra, I'm not _that_ weak." Beastboy said, half joking. Terra giggled and kissed him on the cheek. Beastboy happily returned the kiss on her cheek. "Looks like Robin is back. C'mon, let's go join the others, maybe he will say something important this time." Beastboy said with a grin. The two teens got up and walked over to Robin, Cyborg, and Raven, all who were in a conversation.

"About time ya'll joined us!" Cyborg said as Beastboy and Terra approached them.

"Sorry, I was a little shaken up from Breaker's attack." Beastboy said.

"Oh, that reminds me. Beastboy, do you remember anything about something called the 'Gem of Strength' that Breaker and Kulex were talking about?"

"Uhh, no except that they needed it to merge all three gems into one."

"Damn, we need to find out where the Gem of Strength is so we can get it before they do. Well, no use standing around here anymore, especially when the police arrive and start asking us questions we really don't want to answer. Come on, let's get back to the Tower, I gotta check on Star also." Robin said as he and the other Titans headed for the T-Car.

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(At Firesprite's palace)

"Where have you two been?" Lord Firesprite asked from his throne as Breaker and Kulex arrived.

"I'm very sorry my lord. The Titans have gotten in our way and we just thought that we could get rid of them right then." Breaker said as he and Kulex bowed down.

"As I said, forget about the Teen Titans, they will eventually fall to my power." Lord Firesprite said in a low voice.

"As you wish. Now, where should we acquire the Gem of Strength?" Kulex asked.

"Ah yes, the gemstone. Listen up, because this task requires careful planning unlike the other two." Firesprite said as he started to explain the plan to Breaker and Kulex.

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(Back at Titans Tower)

"Star, we're back!" Robin yelled as he and the other Titans entered the Tower. Much to Robin and the others surprise, Starfire wasn't sleeping at all. In fact, she was already up and practicing shooting her lightning bolts at some targets.

"Oh, hello friends! I had a wonderful slumber, and I feel revived!" Starfire chirped as she ran over to the Titans. She and Robin embraced each other. Starfire then looked at the other Titans and noticed their physical condition.

"What happened when I was gone? We did defeat Kulex and Breaker, right?" Starfire asked, rather nervous.

"Uhh, well, not exactly." Beastboy said as he rubbed his injured shoulder. "Kulex and that Breaker guy transformed into their 'power enhanced' forms, and kicked our butts!"

"Yeah, and then they teleported away with the Gem of Strength" Cyborg added.

"Oh, I am very sorry that I couldn't help..." Starfire said with a look of guilt on her face.

"Star, it's not your fault. After all, you did stand up to them before any of us." Robin said as he put a hand on her shoulder. Starfire seemed to lighten up.

"Tell ya what, I gotta go fix my arm before it drives me crazy. I'll be in my room ya'll." Cyborg said as he walked off, examining the cut on his mechanical arm from Kulex's attack.

Robin stretched his arms a bit and started to walk towards his room. "I'll try to find something about the Gem of Strength. If I do, we have to get to it before Breaker or Kulex does. Take a breather Titans."

Raven decided to go meditate on the roof, claiming if anyone interrupted her, she would throw them off the Tower. Starfire then went to practice her lightning bolts outside where she already set up some targets for herself.

"Uhh, I think I'm gonna go get this shoulder bandaged." Beastboy told Terra as he gave her a quick hug, which she returned, and was off to rummage through the medicine cabinet.

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(In Robin's room)

'Hmm, still nothing. I don't get it, how can something as important as the Gem of Strength have no information on it whatsoever?' Robin thought as he typed away on his computer, trying to find anything pertaining to the three gemstones. Just as he was about to call it a day, something came up about Kulex. Robin sat up in his chair, and started to read.

"Kulex, one of the most powerful mages from the planet Xibera. He was rumored to be traveling the universe in search of his lost brother. From the little information available, Kulex was said to be able to do many physical tasks, such as moving crates or opening doors, with his mind. The king of Xibera banned him from the planet after Kulex and some fellow mages tried to overthrow the king himself. He wasn't heard from again." Robin read from his computer. After a few more minutes of searching, Robin found some information about Breaker.

"After his creation in SuperTech's laboratories on the planet MechEye, Breaker was the most feared and dangerous human robot in the galaxy. SuperTech's scientists had the idea of binding a human to a robotic body as part of an experiment. The goal was to build a fully functional superhuman robot to carry out various tasks on MechEye. However, SuperTech's scientists had made a blunder in the robot body design. Originally, there was supposed to be a small chip that prevented the human part of the robot from abusing his powers, but that wasn't implemented because the SuperTech development leader assumed nothing would go wrong."

"Unfortunately, after the experiment was complete, Breaker's human side took over the robot's central core, and allowed him to preform any action he desired. The new Breaker demanded the scientists build him some weapons or he would kill them. The scientists, having no choice, agreed. They constructed two sets of plasma talons, which they put right on top of Breaker's hands. These claws tapped into Breaker's core and were able to fire beams of pure electricity as well as conduct electricity. The scientists also gave Breaker powerful lasers behind his eyes. Finally, SuperTech's scientists strengthened Breaker's robotic body with a very tough titanium-type metal. Breaker then broke out of SuperTech, and escaped MechEye."

Robin was shocked. He now understood how Breaker was able fire those beams, and how his attacks barely did any damage to Breaker. After rereading Kulex's biography, Robin was able to figure out how Kulex was able to break through the chemical plant's secure doors. Robin decided to continue looking for any more information, since now he had some idea of where to look.

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(Outside Robin's room)

Beastboy finally managed to locate some bandages in the medicine cabinet. He wrapped his injured arm in the bandages, and set off looking for Terra. He found her sitting on the couch, reading some magazines.

"Uh, hey Terra!" Beastboy said as he sat down next to her.

"Hey BB. Oh, that arm doesn't look too good. Are you sure it's ok?" Terra asked after she saw Beastboy's bandaged arm.

"Yeah, it's fine. Um Terra, can I ask you something?" Beastboy asked, looking rather nervous.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Ok, umm... I was wondering if, umm... you were busy tomorrow." Beastboy said, starting to blush.

"Well, I guess not. Um BB, what are you getting at?" Terra asked, a bit suspicious.

"Oh, I was just gonna ask you if, well, you would like to go with me to see a movie or something tomorrow?" Beastboy asked. He was now blushing like mad.

"I'd love to! Say around 4:00 maybe?" Terra replied as she stood up and hugged Beastboy.

Beastboy happily returned the hug. "Four o'clock sounds good. Can't wait!" Beastboy gave her a quick squeeze and ran off to challenge Cyborg, who had now repaired his damaged arm, to play him in Killer Instinct Gold again. Terra smiled and went back to reading her magazine.

Starfire decided to check up on how Robin was doing since he hadn't left his room since they came back. Upon entering Robin's room, she saw him in his usual spot, typing away on his computer.

"Robin? I was wondering how your progress is going." Starfire asked as she approached the Boy Wonder.

"Hmm, oh hey there Star. I just got some new info on Kulex and Breaker. Here, I'll show you." Robin then showed Starfire both Kulex's and Breaker's short biographies. "And that's not all, I finally found something about Lord Firesprite. Take a look:"

"Many years ago, somewhere deep in the cosmos, there existed a planet named Heatwave. It was adjacent to the solar system's only sun, Uzesaric, thereby earning its name for the intense temperatures. The planet once was home to a highly advanced civilization. Every 150 years, a new ruler was chosen to lead Heatwave's people. That is when Zericx Firesprite came to power. He dubbed himself complete dictator of the planet, and ruled with extreme laws."

"Lord Firesprite, as he was now called, practiced highly in fire combat, learning many powerful fire spells that no other person was able to learn. Because of this, no one on Heatwave was brave enough to stand up to him. However, several years after Firesprite took control, a group of rebels were able to defeat Firesprite's army and proceeded to surround his palace. Lord Firesprite was forced to flee from Heatwave. No one knows for sure where he went. Some say he is building an army and planning revenge to take back Heatwave. Others simply say he is dead. But whatever the theory is, one thing is true: Lord Firesprite is one of the most dangerous beings of all time."

Starfire didn't know what to say. Robin decided to finish up for the day since he was quite tired from staring at a computer screen for the past few hours.

"I'm gonna go finish up; it must be around midnight by now. Good night Star!" Robin said as he gave Starfire a goodnight hug. Everyone else was already in the rooms asleep, so Starfire proceeded to her room, hopeful to get a good rest.

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And there is chapter 4. I hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for more chapters coming soon!


	5. The Date

I finally got chapter 5 done. Whoop-de-do! :D Anyways, please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

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Chapter 5: The Date

The next morning came rather early for the tired Titans. Robin was already typing away like mad on his computer. Raven, Terra, and Starfire were training out near the Tower, and Cyborg and Beastboy were at their usual place, sitting on the couch playing video games.

"Ey Cyborg. Ever wonder what might happen if the three gems merge?" Beastboy asked while staring at the TV screen, watching his character get beaten up by Cyborg's.

"Hmm, not really. I mean comon, what's the worst that can happen?" Cyborg relied.

"Dunno, but what if Robin is right? What if it does destroy the city or worse?"

"Beastboy, keep your cool. Don't go berserk on me now." the half robotic teen replied "Heh, speakin' of berserk... WOOHOO!" Cyborg jumped up and cheered as he just beat Beastboy.

"That was pure luck metal man..." Beastboy grumbled as Cyborg danced around the place.

Just as Cyborg was rubbing in his victory, Robin finally came out of his room.

"Hey there Robin! What ya'll been up to?" Cyborg asked as he calmed down.

"Well, I didn't mention it to you last night, but I finally found something out about Breaker, Kulex, and Firesprite." Robin said as he poured himself some soda from the kitchen.

"Really? Cool, anything important?" Beastboy asked as he stretched out his arms.

"Well, what I found were some quick bio's about each of them. Come on, I'll show you." Robin lead Cyborg and Beastboy to his computer were he showed them each of the three fighters' biographies. Cyborg and Beastboy were amazed.

"Wow, so that's what you've been doing! I just thought you went off to your room to sleep in or something." Beastboy said with a large grin. Robin just sweat dropped.

"Anyways, I gotta go tell the rest of the Titans about this. Be back soon." Robin said as he walked out the door. Beastboy and Cyborg went back to playing video games again. Robin managed to persuade a rather annoyed Raven and the remainder of the girls to look at the uncovered information.

"Wonderful, you located all of this in just three days?" Starfire asked, stunned that Robin managed to find out this much in such little time, especially since he had to start from scratch. Raven just simply shook her head, not looking too interested.

By lunchtime, the Titans went out to their favorite pizza restaurant. Robin decided to talk about his new discoveries.

"So, I have some ideas of where we should search for the Gem of Strength." Robin announced after chewing his slice of pizza. "I say we first check out the SciCorp Laboratories. I have a feeling that's where it might be considering I found out that the Gem of Strength provides a lot of energy to power some of the machines they have in there."

Beastboy nodded as he chewed his mushroom pizza. "Ya, sounds good to me."

"Same here. But I also think it might be in the Power Plant since, like you said, it does give energy and that's what the people might need to power the generators there." Cyborg added as he waffled down his two slices of pizza at the same time.

"Your ideas are wonderful, but I also must add that the Gem of Strength might be located in the Communications Hub." Starfire said.

Raven looked bored. "This is gonna take awhile..." She said in her dull voice.

Terra seemed to be thinking of someplace completely different. "What if Slade has it at his place?"

All of the Titans stopped eating as they considered this thought. If Slade had the Gem, then that would mean that they would need to fight him to take it, since Slade is not the most generous villain around.

"I never would have thought of that. Good thinking Terra!" Robin acknowledged.

"Just to be sure, let's check all the other places we said the Gem might be in, and then go after Slade as a last resort." Beastboy said, deep in thought,

"Uh huh, so is that what you were thinking about all this time, BB?" Terra asked with a grin.

"Not really. I was thinking more along the lines of video games and whooping Cyborg's butt. That just came to me out of nowhere!" Beastboy said as he started on his third consecutive slice of pizza.

"Beastboy is right, for once." Robin said, earning an angry look from Beastboy. "Anyway, so let's settle this. Tomorrow we will check out the Power Plant and SciCorp. Since the Communications Hub is huge, we'll search there the day after tomorrow. And finally, if we really are clueless, we'll check up on Slade."

Everyone agreed and finished up eating. Cyborg headed off to the gym to get ready to fight Slade if need be, and to be prepared in case Kulex or Breaker decided to show up. Raven went to meditate on the roof of Titans Tower as usual. Robin went to set up some practice targets outside.

Since now it was close to 4:00, Beastboy and Terra stayed inside to get ready for their date. Finally, it was time. Beastboy walked over to Terra's room and knocked on her door. Terra opened up, and lightly hugged the shape shifter, who returned the hug.

"Ready to go?" Beastboy asked with a small smile, who was in his usual cloths. Terra also wore her normal Titan clothing. None of them had bothered to dress up, just in case some annoying villain was gonna show up.

"Yeah, so where are we going first?" Terra asked as she linked arms with Beastboy.

"Hmm, there is that new movie playing. What was it called again? Oh yeah, _The Rise of the Undead_. Wanna see that one?" Beastboy asked as the two teens left the Tower and walked to Jump City.

"Sure, I heard it was really cool, and scary." Terra said, resting her head of Beastboy's shoulder. The two Titans then arrived at the cinema after a rather short walk. They bought their tickets and took their seats. The seats formed like a small couch since one of the armrests that separated the two was broken off. (A/N, couldn't resist putting that in) Terra cuddled up next to Beastboy and rested her head on his shoulder like always. The two got comfortable as the movie began.

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(At the gym somewhere in Jump City)

Cyborg was lifting some weights, following his usual routine whenever he came to this gym. However, just as Cyborg was taking a drink of water, he overheard two familiar names in some conversation. He looked over to the entrance of the gym, where two men stood. One was tall and had giant muscles. He wore a black cap backwards, and spoke in a deep voice; Cyborg assumed he must be a bodybuilder. The other person, however, looked nothing like the bodybuilder he was talking to. He was rather short, and skinny. He wore a polo shirt tucked into his jeans. This person spoke in an unusually high voice.

"So, how was Breaker been doing lately?" the muscle man asked.

"Excellent if I do say so myself. It was a great idea to persuade SuperTech's lead scientist to remove the control chip. Now without it, Breaker is a full power killing machine!" the skinnier person said in an airy voice.

"Looks good so far. I think they need da Gem of Strength or whatever the hell it is called. Then that Firesprite guy will be happy." the bodybuilder said.

The skinnier man yawned a bit and replied. "Yes, I just finished programming Breaker a new control module. With this, he will be able to fire his electro beams with no problem whatsoever. I feel sorry for the person to get in his way now. So, are Breaker and Kulex going to get the Gem of Strength today?"

"Yeah, and it will be an... electrifying experience, if I do say so myself. Ok, I gotta go back to training. Peace Mark." the muscle man said.

Mark waved and started walking out the door. "And put on some deodorant next time Yorick!" he yelled.

The muscular Yorick just waved him off and went over to the treadmills. Cyborg was dumbfounded. This is the first time he heard two random people mention something about Breaker. And he wondered what the Mark guy had in store for Breaker, something about a new control module that would make the alien robot more powerful.

'Nah, probably just coincidence...' Cyborg thought as he went back to his regular routine. 'But wait, they _did_ say something about Lord Firesprite. I guess I'll tell the Titans after I come back. Besides, what can some nerd and muscle freak do?'

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(Back at the theater)

The movie Beastboy and Terra were watching just ended, and so the two left the theater. Terra held on to Beastboy's arm as they walked.

"That was probably the best movie I watched all year! Thanks BB." Terra said with a smile.

"You're welcome!" Beastboy said enthusiastically.

"By the way, were are we going now?" Terra asked as they kept walking towards a large lake outside of Jump City.

"Oh, I was wondering if you wanted to just walk around Crystal Lake with me." Beastboy said.

"That would be great." Terra said. The two Titans circled the lake once, and sat down on a bench facing it. Beastboy wrapped his arms around Terra as she snuggled up close to him. Beastboy then rested his head on hers as Terra closed her eyes dreamily.

"It's a great night. Especially since no monster showed its ugly face yet." Beastboy said as he rubbed Terra's back. Terra simply shook her head lightly.

"Ever since I met you, I always had felt something special towards you." Beastboy said as he lifted his head and looked at Terra. "See, I care about you, a lot. Remember when we fought Plasmus back in the museum a few days ago? Well, when I saw you about to fall into that crack, I though that I would never see you again. But thank God you didn't die." Beastboy now took a rather deep breath and said, "So what I guess I'm trying to say is that... I... I love you Terra." The shape shifter was now blushing like mad, and his face looked funny with the red blush on his green skin. "If you don't like me, I guess... that's ok, you know, since..."

Terra cut him off as she placed a finger on his lips, and brought her face closer. Their lips met for their first passionate kiss. It lasted about 30 seconds, and Terra then broke the kiss. "I love you too, Beastboy. I can't live without you in my life." Terra said with a loving smile.

"I can't live without you either. You're like an angle to me." Beastboy and Terra hugged each other tightly and leaned in for another kiss. As they were kissing, Beastboy placed his hand on Terra's cheek and softly caressed it. Terra in turn wrapped her arms around the shape shifter's neck. After they broke the kiss, Terra cuddled up in Beastboy's strong arms and closed her eyes once again, at peace with the world.

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(Near Titans Tower)

Cyborg was running full speed back to the rest of the Titans after he finished his workout at the gym. 'I must tell the others about those two guys I saw back at the gym. I think we'll need to check out the Power Plant as soon as we can; Yorick did say something about electricity, didn't he? Makes sense to me...' Cyborg thought.

After a rather short time, he arrived at the Tower to find Robin, Raven, and Starfire training outside.

"Back so soon?" Robin questioned as he took a moment to relax from shooting down targets.

"Yeah, and ya'll won't believe what I heard. Listen up." Cyborg said, breathing heavily from his sprint. The rest of the Titans stopped their training and came to hear what Cyborg was going to lecture them about.

"Ok, so I was at the gym as usual, when I heard these two guys talking. And do ya'll know what they were talking about?" Everyone shook their heads. "Well, they were chatting about Breaker and Kulex!" The Titans all put on a serious face. "And that's not all, this one guy called Yorick said that Breaker and Kulex were going to get the Gem of Strength today, and I think it's at the power plant since Yorick mentioned something about electricity."

"So what are we waiting for? I'll call up Beastboy and Terra and tell them to meet us there" Robin said as he called Beastboy's communicator.

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(Back at the lake)

The two Titans sat in silence on the bench, simply enjoying each other's presence. Beastboy was stroking Terra's back, happy that nothing was going wrong. However, the sound of Beastboy's communicator made both teens jump. Terra looked on with Beastboy and saw Robin had contacted them.

"Beastboy, Terra! Get to the Power Plant as fast as you can! We just got word from Cyborg that the Gem of Strength may be there." Robin said in a hurry.

"Sure, we'll be right there." Beastboy said. "After all this is over, wanna go out again?" Beastboy asked Terra sweetly as he closed his communicator.

"Always!" Terra said with happiness as she summoned a boulder and hopped on. Beastboy join her and they flew off to Jump City Power Plant.

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(At Jump City Power Plant

Robin and the other Titans arrived at the Power Plant, on the look out for any suspicious activity.

"Beastboy and Terra should be here any minute. For now, let's have a look around to see if anything strange has been happening here." Robin announced as he started walking to the Power Plant's main entrance. Just as he touched the door handle, he was shocked by electricity and throw back.

"What gives?!" Robin said as Starfire helped him up. All of a sudden, an electric creature appeared in front of them, who could only be...

"Overload..." Cyborg muttered as the blob of electricity formed into a crude shape of a large body with some kind of red chip for a face.

"The Gem of Strength is mine! It mine now!" Overload growled as he started sending shock waves all over the place. The Titans easily dodged them, and headed close to attack him.

"All right Overload, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, take your choice!" Cyborg yelled as he ran close to the electric menace. Overload simply growled again and tried to hit Cyborg with a bolt of electricity, which the robotic teen dodged.

"Ok, so we are going to do this hard way I guess!" Cyborg warned as he jumped up and fired his cannon full power at Overload's face. The beam collided square in his face, and sent the electric creature speeding into the ground. However, Overload just got back up again and threw a punch at the unsuspecting Cyborg. He hit him and Cyborg got thrown into a nearby tree.

Meanwhile, Raven was already pelting Overload with magicked screws and bolts from the Power Plant's walls, which appeared to be doing little damage. Overload just swatted Raven away like a fly, and she was forced to retreat a few paces back. Starfire tried throwing lightning bolts at Overload, but obviously they were doing even less damage than Raven's magic. Overload just got annoyed more, and threw a powerful punch at Starfire. It barely missed the alien girl, but it was close enough to give her a rather strong shock.

"I did not wish to fight you, but now it seems that I must." Starfire said as she got up off the ground after Overload's shock. The Titans were starting to fatigue from fighting since they were pretty much getting nowhere. Robin had his back turned as he got up after another painful hit from Overload, and the electric creature was about to smash him into the ground from behind.

"Robin, watch out!" Starfire yelled as she saw Robin about to be squashed by Overload's incoming punch. Just as Overload was about to slam Robin into the ground, a giant boulder came rocketing and hit Overload hard. The electric creature was thrown at least a yard from where he was standing.

"Sorry we're late guys!" Terra said as she and Beastboy hopped off the summoned boulder.

"About time you guys showed up. I thought that maybe Overload or something may have attacked you on your way here." Robin said as he stood up. Overload gave yet another deafening roar and barely stood up. "How about we finish off Overload and get that gem while he's weak?" Robin said, taking out some Freeze Disks. Everyone nodded in approval and prepared to attack the electric creature.

Raven magicked some pipes from a nearby construction site, and prepared to chuck them at Overload. Starfire powered up some of her lightning bolts, and Cyborg readied his sonic cannon. Terra summoned a few large boulders, and Beastboy transformed into a bull, ready to charge. Everyone fired their projectiles at Overload's chest, which hit him head on. The transformed Beastboy charged and also collided into Overload's stomach area. The electric menace could not handle the impact, and collapsed. His electric form disappeared, leaving only his red chip face.

"Overload... overload..." were the electric creature's last words as he shut his "eyes."

"Oh yeah, we nailed him!" Beastboy exclaimed as he transformed back into his human form. "Hey, what's this?" The shape shifter picked up a sapphire gemstone near Overload's chip-type face.

"Hey, it's the Gem of Strength! We found it before Kulex and Breaker!" Cyborg said as he jumped up and made a motion.

However, as the Titans were celebrating their victory, two pairs of blood red eyes shone from the shadows of the nearly trees.

"Heh heh heh... and the Gem is soon to be ours..." one voice said, as two bodies emerged from the shadows.

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So, did you like it? Probably sucks, but I try! :) Stay tuned for more chapters coming (hopefully) soon.


	6. The Battle for the Gem

I finally finished writing this chapter; school had delayed me from writing for quite some time, but now I got an extended weekend break, so hopefully I'll be able to finish the next chapter soon. Enjoy!

And a thank you to all my reviewers!

**D-I-WaRrIa**: Sorry I didn't get into too much detail about the Gem of Strength. Put it this way: it is needed along with the Gems of Power and Chaos to merge into... well, you'll see; I don't want to give the plot away. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

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Chapter 6: The Battle for the Gem

The Titans quickly stopped dancing around as the two bodies came forth from the nearby trees. The teens gasped; it was the last two people on the face of the Earth that they wanted to see.

"Good day Titans. We didn't expect you to be here, but apparently, I must thank you." Kulex said, in his low voice. "Lord Firesprite had told us that Slade had sent Overload here to acquire the Gem of Strength, and we would have to battle him. Thanks you to Titans, we no longer have to do that. So be wise, and hand over the Gem."

Robin was now furious. "Grr, we won't ever give anything to the likes of _you_!" the Boy Wonder said through gritted teeth.

"Oh yeah, and we found out from your two buddies where the Gem was." Cyborg said, preparing his sonic cannon.

Breaker was a bit taken back. "Hmm, I should have told Yorick and Mark to keep their obnoxious mouths shut, but no matter. They have actually aided us with their ignorance."

"Getting back to the point, I highly suggest you turn over the Gem, or we will have no choice but to destroy you, and this time, we will finish the task." Kulex said, unsheathing his sword. "Also, we should be able to dispose of all of you without any problem, considering we are already in our powered up forms."

"And I too have some improvements from Mark. This should be even easier, even though the alien girl has returned." Breaker said, now turning to look at Beastboy, who was holding the Gem of Strength. "Ah, so it appears the green one possesses the Gem. Be wise, hand it over, **now**."

Beastboy's anger started to rise at a dramatic level. "I'd rather eat Cyborg's nasty waffles than give you the Gem." the green shape shifter said, retreating a few steps back. Terra defended him.

"I don't know what's your problem, but this time we will not be defeated so easily." the blonde said, getting ready to summon some boulders just in case. Breaker merely chuckled.

"We are giving you so many opportunities to save your young lives, yet you reject our offers. Pity." Breaker said.

"So instead of wasting more time, we will give you Titans your final chance to hand over the Gem." Kulex added, as he and Breaker prepared to fight.

The shape shifter was unable to bear any more anger. Beastboy transformed into a rhinoceros and started to charge at break neck speed at Breaker.

"By advancing, I assume you mean to fight. Then so be it. Permit me to strike the first blow." the alien robot said, as he teleported out of Beastboy's way and appeared behind him. The second Breaker finished teleporting, he charged at the unsuspecting Beastboy with one of his clawed hands outstretched. Breaker's talons sliced vertically across Beastboy's back, then combining his charge with an uppercut, sending the shape shifter flying into the air. Terra quickly summoned a boulder, and flew up to catch him before he fell. The Gem of Strength was sent out of Beastboy's hands and into Kulex's outstretched hand.

Just as Kulex caught the gemstone, he felt excruciating pain as one of Robin's razor disks cut into the palm of his hand. Kulex dropped the gem, and Breaker made a run for it. He was, however, cut off by one of Cyborg's sonic beams. The alien robot countered with a beam of his own, which was blocked by Raven's dark shield. Robin threw some Freeze Disks, rooting Breaker to the ground. Starfire now shot one of her lightning bolts, hitting Breaker's head. The robot was dazed for a second, but quickly recovered.

Kulex and Breaker then regrouped.

"It seems that we may have to alter our fighting methods. A minor setback." Kulex said, as he and Breaker once again teleported and reappeared in different places. Breaker shot a strange neon beam, which started to fly at light speed around the Titans, enclosing them in a dome of electricity. Kulex appeared near the electric dome, and thrust his sword into the ground, which changed the grass inside the electric dome into quicksand.

Starfire immediately grabbed Robin by the shoulders and started to hover above the treacherous quicksand. Raven lifted Cyborg with her magic as she also hovered above the ground. Terra quickly summoned a compact rock and managed to avoid sinking in as well. Beastboy turned into a canary, and started to fly lightly around.

Breaker and Kulex smiled at the efforts.

"Seems now you Titans have no choice other than to hand over the Gem, and we shall spare your lives." Kulex said, as he leaded on his sword.

"Damn it! We will never give you anything!" Robin yelled out, trying to think of a way to destroy Breaker's electric dome.

"Ah, still resisting, eh? Fine, you leave me little choice." Breaker said as his cold eyes now glowed a neon blue color. The electric dome slowly started to shrink, leaving the trapped Titans to move closer to the center.

"Eventually, the dome will become microscopic and then terminate itself, taking you with it. Oh, I forgot to mention that those currents of electricity are strong enough to knock you out." Breaker said, his voice showing no mercy.

The Titans had pretty much no ideas of finding a way out of this trap. Touching the dome itself would cause them to be knocked unconscious, and thereby falling into the quicksand. Trying to burrow through the quicksand would be futile, since it would likely shallow them up. However, Cyborg had come up with a plan. "Hey Kulex, your sword seems to have a crack in the blade! You wouldn't want to fight with that now would ya?" the robotic teen yelled.

Kulex, as Cyborg hoped, immediately withdrew his sword from the ground, causing the eternal quicksand to disappear. Beastboy took this opportunity to transform into a mole, and dig his way under the dome. He resurfaced behind Breaker, and then morphed into a giant gorilla. With one punch, Breaker lost his concentration and was sent flying. The electric dome vanished, releasing the trapped Titans.

"Oh yeah, kicked your butt metal head!" Beastboy cheered, as Terra ran up and gave him a quick hug, which he returned.

"Good thinking there Cyborg and Beastboy. Now let's finish these guys off once and for all!" Robin announced as he took out his staff, ready to fight Kulex.

Breaker had recovered and was looking like he would kill someone. The alien robot leaped into the air, and landed next to Cyborg, swinging one of his clawed hands. Cyborg easily blocked that threw a punch. Breaker just countered with a kick, hitting Cyborg in the stomach. Just as Breaker was going to slash Cyborg's neck, Raven and Terra both shot magicked items and stones respectively. Breaker blocked everything coming his way without a problem, and shot a beam at Cyborg instead which collided with the robotic teen, sending him flying into a the Power Plant's walls. Breaker turned around to face Beastboy.

"Now you shall pay for attacking me!" the robot said as he fired his eye lasers, while blocking more projectiles. However, Beastboy was ready this time. He transformed into a crow, and started flying right at Breaker. The alien robot merely chuckled, read to slam his fist into the transformed Beastboy. Instead of flying into Breaker, the shape shifter flew up vertically just when he was about an inch away from his target. Beastboy then flew a few more feet into the air, and morphed into a whale, crashing into the unprepared Breaker. This created a loud rumble heard everywhere in Jump City.

Beastboy morphed back into his human form, and jumped all over the fallen Breaker. "Oh yeah, I annihilated you _again_! Who's the man now!" The shape shifter jumped off the fighter robot, landing next to an amazed Raven and Terra.

"That was great BB! Good thinking!" Terra exclaimed as she and Beastboy shared a quick kiss. Raven just rolled her eyes.

"I have to admit, though, that was smart for once." Raven said in her monotone voice, not really interested. "Beastboy actually did something smart for once... never thought I would ever say those words..." This earned a laugh from Terra and Beastboy.

Their moment of peace ended after Breaker seemed to recover. He jumped up, his eyes turning a deep crimson color. "That was a good strategy, but you'll have to do better in order to damage me significantly."

"What do you mean? I just waffled you!" Beastboy said, rather surprised.

"That's what you think you did. But in reality, all I suffered was some minor electrical disturbances. Nothing major; I should be fine now. However, I guarantee that you won't be smiling anymore after I get through with you three." Breaker said, turning both of his hands into long, sharp sabers. "Let's see how you handle close range combat."

Breaker wasted no time in trying to get rid of the three Titans. He ran up and slashed one his saber-hands at Beastboy, who had to duck in order to avoid the unforgiving blade. The shape shifter morphed into porcupine and curled up into a spiky ball, then rolling away in between the alien robot's legs. When Breaker turned around, he was met with one of Terra's summoned boulders, which almost hit him in the face had he not destroyed it into pieces with his sabers. While Breaker was busy fighting, Kulex decided to take matters into his own hands.

Robin,Cyborg, and Starfire were attacking the dark mage from every side. Eventually, Kulex failed to block Robin's staff, and felt the sharp pain of the metal rod hitting him in the stomach. The dark mage grabbed his sword, and swung it mercilessly at Cyborg, who easily blocked it with his metallic arm. Once again, Kulex was hit by Robin's staff. Kulex had enough.

"Fine, you asked for it! I will kill all of you and then disintegrate you into oblivion!" the dark mage roared as he powered up. A blinding blue light flashed all around him, and his sword began to glow a deep blue color. "Heh heh, now you'll feel the pain I went through!"

Kulex charged at Robin, who was nearest to him. He stabbed Robin right in his left arm, piercing it with his deadly blade. Robin yelled out in pain as the metal blade cut right through his bone and flesh. The Boy Wonder fell to the ground, clutching the now bleeding arm. Starfire had a look of horror on her face, and went over to help Robin. Kulex was too distracted by Robin's pain to notice that Cyborg had finished charging up his sonic cannon to maximum power.

"Take this sludge head!" Cyborg yelled as he unleashed his powerful bream, hitting Kulex's back. The mage was sent into the air, landing somewhere on top of the Power Plant. "Yeah! Beat his ass!" Cyborg cheered, but quickly became serious as he noticed Robin's condition. "Yo, Robin. Are you alright?" the robotic teen asked as he knelt down to examine Robin's arm. Blood was now flowing freely through the opening from where Kulex's sword had pierced him.

"Cyborg, he's going to die from blood loss! We have to do something!" Starfire panicked as he lightly hugged Robin. Cyborg went right to work, trying to heal the Boy Wonder's arm.

Breaker then noticed that Kulex wasn't present in the battle. "Grr, Kulex, where are you?!" the alien robot yelled out.

"Right here! I could use some help!" Kulex yelled from the roof of the Power Plant.

"I'm not finished with you." was all the Breaker said before he warped up to the Power Plant to check up on Kulex. By this time, Beastboy, Terra, and Raven noticed what happened to Robin, and headed over to see.

"Damn it! I can't figure out why his cut isn't healing." Cyborg said with frustration. Starfire had a closer look. That type of wound looked familiar...

"I think I know how." Starfire said as she held her hand over Robin's wound, quickly saying some words that the rest of the Titans didn't understand. Much to their surprise, Robin's sword wound started to glow green, and closed up. Everyone was amazed.

"Kulex's magic seems similar to the one on my home planet. I preformed a simple spell that heals these types of magic wounds." Starfire said, as she and Robin embraced.

"Thanks so much Star!" Robin said as they broke the hug. "But how did you know what kind of magic Kulex placed on his sword?"

"I remember once reading a story, that a fierce warrior came from a distant place in the galaxy, and attacked Tamaran. He preformed this same magic that disposed of many brave soldiers. However, the Tamaranian armies managed to defeat the warrior, and he left in a hurry. After the war, our many wise mages came up with this spell to heal any soldiers still suffering from the warrior's magic. It was a simple spell that reversed the magic that flowed in the soldier's blood, enabling their wounds to heal." Starfire said.

There was a moment of silence, until Cyborg spoke. "Do ya'll think that Kulex might be that warrior that attacked Tamaran?"

"How smart of you. Of course I was that warrior." Kulex said, making the Titans jump up in surprise.

"Wow man, where'd you come from?!" Cyborg asked, ready to fire his cannon.

Kulex just stood there, one hand on his sword handle. "I recommend you put that down. Don't make me inflict further pain onto you." Cyborg reluctantly powered down his sonic cannon.

"Wait, that's impossible! The warrior from the story came hundreds of years ago!" Starfire said.

Kulex merely smiled. "No one said that I only live as long as a normal human. I live much, much longer than that. It all started with a complex time spell, which let me live for another 1,000 years. You would never understand."

None of the Titans spoke. Breaker now teleported right next to Kulex. "That's what you Titans fail to understand. We are not normal humans. Besides, you children are way too young to understand how advanced magic works, even though I don't posses any." Breaker said.

"So yes Starfire, I committed the mass genocide on Tamaran many years ago. I am responsible for killing the Tamaranian king of that time. It all traces back to me..." Kulex said, chuckling.

Starfire, as well as the other Titans, were shocked. "So this gives us another good reason to defeat you!" the Tamaranian girl said, getting ready to fire some lightning bolts.

"So you still want to fight, even though now you know what we are capable of?"

"We would fight you no matter how strong you are!" Beastboy exclaimed, positioning himself in a way in which he would have a clear path to Breaker.

"Enough talk. We came here to get the Gem, yet you once again had to interfere with us. Lord Firesprite must be getting impatient, and Breaker and I are in no mood to have to undergo his punishment." Kulex said, unsheathing his sword and powering it up.

"Then let's get this over with! Titans, go!" Robin exclaimed, taking out his staff and leaping at Kulex. The dark mage blocked the Boy Wonder's staff, and jumped back.

"Then come and get me..." Kulex muttered, ready to fight Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg like before. Breaker also began to fight Beastboy, Terra, and Raven.

"Your technique is flawed. You need to improve." Kulex said as he dodged Cyborg's beam and blocked Starfire's bolt. He slashed his sword at Cyborg, forcing the robotic teen to retreat a few paces back. Robin saw his chance, and once again charged at the dark mage, his staff ready to strike him. However, Kulex was prepared this time. The mage blocked the staff and countered with a magical ball of fire, hitting Robin square in the chest, sending the Boy Wonder flying back. Kulex continued blocking and countering Starfire's bolts as well as Cyborg's sonic cannon at the same time.

Breaker was not going to be taken down so easily this time. Beastboy morphed into a mole and tunneled underground, surfacing near Breaker like he did previously. Breaker saw him this time, and fired his eye lasers at the transformed Beastboy, forcing him to change back into his human form. Raven magicked a nearby tree, and swung it at Breaker like a baseball bat. Breaker changed his hand into a sharp ax and sliced through the tree without a problem. Terra summoned and threw a few dagger like stones at the alien robot, but they didn't affect the robotic creature since his metal body was able to protect him.

Just as the Titans were starting to tire out Kulex and Breaker, the ground started to shake like during a strong earthquake.

"Terra, could you try to please use less powerful attacks?" Raven asked rhetorically.

"I'm not using any strong attack right now! All I'm doing is summoning boulders!" Terra countered, as she ducked to avoid one of Breaker's beams.

"Heh heh, it appears our master has arrived. We may get punished, but at least you Titans won't get off so easily." Breaker said, as he and Kulex jumped back to a safe distance away from the Titans.

A dark vortex of clouds started to form in the air, and slowly descended down. A figure of a person started to walk towards the awestruck Titans.

"I have waited a long time to meet you Titans... However, today is not going to be the best day for you. Heh heh heh..." the mysterious figure said in a very low voice, one to match Kulex's.

To be continued...

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Woohoo, a cliffhanger. ;) Anyways, I'll try to update sooner, but like I said, school is taking a lot of my free time. Stay tuned, and please review!


	7. The First Encounter

And here is chapter 7! This is pretty much one big battle chapter, hopefully it will liven the story up. :) A special thanks to all my reviewers!

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

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Chapter 7: The First Encounter

Both Kulex and Breaker bowed down as the figure started to come closer to them. Eventually, the dark clouds from the vortex subsided, and the Titans could see Lord Firesprite clearly now.

He looked very much like Slade, with a few exceptions. He looked to be about seven feet in height and instead of having a mask like Slade, Lord Firesprite wore a black metal helmet with spikes going down the center and two horns, slanted backwards, protruding from either side. His face was hidden completely, except for his mouth which could be seen under the shadow of the helmet's upside-down V-shaped opening in the front. His most gruesome facial feature however, were his eyes. They were simply two red beads shining brightly from under the helmet's shadow, like miniature fireballs. The rest of his body was covered in metal armor. There were a few spikes also protruding from the top of his shoulder blades. His heavily armored legs had smaller spikes going down them all the way to his boots, which were rather gray in color. In his left hand, he held a dark blue sword with jagged edges, and his other hand was free. Overall, he looked like a fearsome person.

"What do you want? If it's the Gem of Strength, well we're sorry but you can't have it." Robin said, his voice showing signs of foreboding.

"Indeed, I have come for the Gem. I am giving you a fair warning: if you simply hand over the Gem without any hassles, I shall spare your lives. Else I will be forced to manually dispose of you." Lord Firesprite said, his eyes now looking right at Beastboy who held the Gem of Strength. Terra held on to Beastboy's arm out of pure terror. Starfire also stayed close to Robin for comfort.

"Look, we are not going to just hand it over to you so you can do whatever you want with it." Beastboy said, courage getting the better of him once again.

"Beastboy... be careful. We don't know what he's capable of..." Terra whispered to Beastboy, still clutching his arm.

"Don't worry Terra, I'll be careful, and I won't let anything happen to you either, I promise." Beastboy whispered back, trying to comfort the scared Terra.

Lord Firesprite stopped about two feet from Beastboy and Terra. He looked directly into Beastboy's eyes. "Now let me say this again. I am not the person you would like to intimidate, believe me. Ask anyone who got in the way of my plans." Lord Firesprite growled. Beastboy and Terra were now visibly shaking. "So I shall give you one more chance; give me the Gem of Strength right now, or you shall see a sample of my power."

Terra got an idea and quickly slipped the Gem of Strength from Beastboy's hand.

"Terra... what are you doing?!" Beastboy whispered in a hurry.

"I got an idea... trust me. I think we can trick him. As soon as he gets closer, both of us will jump away, and I'll summon a boulder to throw at his neck. If it hits, we should have enough time to escape..." Terra quickly replied. However, this didn't work out as intended.

Lord Firesprite now looked directly at Terra. "I see you are trying to protect the shape shifter..." the warrior said, his eyes turning a darker shade of red. "Then so be it. You failed to save yourselves while you had the chance. Now you shall see my power!"

The dark warrior held his free hand up in the air, ready to power up a beam. However, Robin and the other Titans tried to stop him. Unfortunately, Lord Firesprite saw them coming, and created a forcefield to block their path. The Titans now could do nothing to stop Lord Firesprite from attacking Terra.

"Now where was I... oh yes, about to kill you." Lord Firesprite said, as he finished powering up his beam. It was shaped like a sphere and glowed a deep violet color. He aimed it at Terra and fired. However, Beastboy saw this coming, so he quickly gathered Terra up in a tight, protective embrace, shielding her completely from the beam. Instead of colliding with Terra, the violet beam hit Beastboy with full force, sending both him and Terra still in his arms flying a few feet back, crashing into the cold earth. The Gem of Strength flew out of Terra's hands and into Lord Firesprite's.

"Now I have everything I came for. Good day to you, for we will meet again quite soon." the evil warrior said, disabling the forcefield, ready to teleport away with Breaker and Kulex. Since the forcefield was down, the remaining Titans rushed over and attacked Lord Firesprite. "So we want to fight eh? Heh heh heh... then you too will face the same fate as those two have!" And with that, Lord Firesprite and his two allies attacked the incoming Titans.

As the battle raged on, Terra finally was able to realize what happened. She also noticed that she was still in Beastboy's arms, safe from harm. However, the shape shifter himself wasn't in a good condition.

"Beastboy! Are you alright?!" Terra asked in a panic as she wiggled free from his arms.

Beastboy barely managed to speak. "Yeah... I... I think so..." Terra helped him sit up.

"Why did you do that?! You could have gotta yourself killed!"

"Well, I did stop... that beam from hitting you... didn't I? And I... promised nothing would happen to you." Beastboy said with a small smile.

"Oh Beastboy..." Terra whispered with tears in her eyes before giving him a loving hug. Beastboy gratefully returned it. "Just please Beastboy, I don't want you to get hurt." the blonde said, tears starting to stream down her face. Beastboy took his hand and gently whipped the tears away.

"I want you to know that I'd never let anything happen to you." Beastboy replied with a smile, regaining some energy. They leaned closer together and shared a loving kiss. Terra's mood improved as well. "So, ready to kick that Firesprite's ass?" the shape shifter asked with a radiant grin. Terra nodded, and they both stood up, ready to help the other Titans out.

The battle with Lord Firesprite wasn't going so well. With Kulex and Breaker helping him out, the dark warrior could pretty much defend against the Titans' attacks as well as counter them with greater strength. "Do you still think that you stand a chance ,Titans?" Lord Firesprite asked, but he was cut off as a boulder collided into Breaker, sending him rocketing into the ground.

"Who the hell just did that?!" Breaker asked with anger as he got back up.

"Your worst nightmare!" Terra replied, as she and Beastboy returned to join in the battle.

"Still shouldn't be a problem. Breaker, get back up here!" Kulex yelled as he got hit by one of Starfire's lightning bolts. The mage went plummeting into the ground, just as Breaker got smacked by Beastboy when he morphed into a kangaroo and also was thrown back a distance. This left Lord Firesprite to deal with six angry Titans.

"It seems that you have the upper hand here. However, I should still have no trouble dealing with all of you." Lord Firesprite said coolly as he tightened his grip on his sword. Breaker and Kulex were immobilized for a few minutes from Terra and Beastboy's attack, which gave the Titans some nice opportunities to score a few good hits on the dark warrior.

"We'll just see about that!" Robin said as he swung his staff at Lord Firesprite, which the dark warrior blocked without a problem.

"Is that the best you can do?" Lord Firesprite chuckled as he blocked another one of Robin's attacks. Raven, Starfire, and Terra then started to shoot projectiles at Lord Firesprite. He blocked and dodged anything thrown at him, as well as even more of Robin's attacks. Cyborg snuck up behind Lord Firesprite at fired his sonic cannon full power. The beam collided head-on with Lord Firesprite.

"Hells ya!" Cyborg cheered. However, much to his and the rest of the Titans' surprise, Lord Firesprite didn't have even a scratch on him.

"I almost thought that you managed to actually damage me, but that didn't happen. Now I shall get rid of all of you and finally take over Jump City, and then the world!" the dark warrior yelled out as he shot a powerful fire bolt at Starfire, which hit the alien girl and sent her flying. Lord Firesprite then took out his sword and teleported behind Cyborg, striking him hard on his back. The robotic teen tried to counter with a beam, but Lord Firesprite was too quick and dodged it. He gave another slash of his sword and Cyborg went down.

With two Titans temporarily unable to fight, Lord Firesprite decided that enough time was wasted and wanted to get rid of the rest as quickly as possible. "I wasted too much of my time fighting you Titans. You simply pose no challenge to me, so I'll eliminate the rest of you right now!" the dark warrior said as he tried to shoot a large fireball at Raven, who blocked it with her dark powers. By now, Kulex and Breaker had returned to the battle. "About time you two showed up, now help me finish these pests off." Lord Firesprite commanded as he again shot a fire spell at Raven. This time, however, Kulex also shot one of his energy beams at the dark witch as well. Breaker shot an electric ball at Raven from behind, but it was blocked by one of Terra's summoned boulders. Beastboy blocked Kulex's beam by morphing into a large gorilla and swatting it out of the air. Robin then threw some Freeze Disks, disabling Lord Firesprite's fire spell.

"You three may be strong, but we won't be defeated so easily!" Robin said, swinging his staff at Kulex, who blocked it with his sword. Starfire recovered from her hit and flew behind Lord Firesprite, throwing a few electric beams at him. However, Lord Firesprite easily blocked them with his arm. Starfire and Robin went after Lord Firesprite while Beastboy and Terra began to fight Breaker. Cyborg and Raven teamed up and started attacking Kulex mercilessly.

Lord Firesprite had a harder time fighting without the help of Breaker and Kulex, but still managed fairly well. Robin threw some Freeze Disks and quickly swung his staff at the dark warrior. Starfire at the same time shot more green bolts. Lord Firesprite was able to block every projectile, but didn't notice Robin's staff and got hit by it in the chest. Much to Robin's annoyance, Lord Firesprite's armor absorbed the hit, leaving just a small dent in the protective metal. "Heh heh, do you think that little toy will actual harm me?" Lord Firesprite said coolly as he unsheathed his sword and fought Robin. The Boy Wonder was able to block Lord Firesprite's sword with his staff, but after a few more blows, Robin's staff snapped in half. The dark warrior used his superior fire spells to set both halves of the staff on a magical fire. He then telepathically threw these at Robin, but Starfire was able to intercept them with some electric bolts.

"Thanks Star!" Robin said as he dodged another slash from Lord Firesprite. Starfire nodded with a smile and fired some more electric beams at the dark warrior. The battle raged on as Lord Firesprite preformed various spells and slashed away with his sword, unable to defeat the two Titans.

Meanwhile, Beastboy and Terra tried every one of their attacks to harm Breaker, but whatever they did, either Breaker blocked it or his metal body absorbed the hit. "I see you two are starting to lose your nerves. Heh, am I too powerful for you two to defeat?" Breaker joked around while easily defending himself from various attacks.

"Oh yeah? We'll just see who's better than who..." Beastboy said as he whipped some blood off his face after getting cut by Breaker's talons. The shape shifter then morphed into a hummingbird and nimbly flew behind Breaker. Terra now launched a series of small but sharp stones at Breaker. Since the alien robot was busy blocking Terra's attacks, Beastboy was able to morph into a kangaroo and strike Breaker from behind with his tail. Breaker went rocking into the ground, leaving a giant crater.

"Terra, now is your chance! Finish him off!" Beastboy called out to the blonde. Terra nodded and summoned a huge boulder, which she sent crashing down upon Breaker. The rock collided, and an small explosion could be heard from beneath it.

"You... will not... get away with this... I swear it..." Breaker said weakly as he crawled from beneath the large rock. Soon after, his eyes stopped glowing and his mechanical body powered down. The alien robot's talons turned a dark shade of gray and his body fell to the ground.

"Well, that takes care of him, I hope." Beastboy said with a smile as he and Terra shared a quick hug.

"C'mon, let's go help the others; I bet they aren't havening too much luck with Firesprite and Kulex." the blonde said. The two Titans then rushed over to help out the rest of their friends.

Cyborg and Raven were actually doing rather well fighting against Kulex. Since the mage was more skilled at using magic attacks, Kulex tried all of his melee spells to take down Cyborg and Raven. However, almost none of them worked since Raven blocked any magic coming her way as well as blocking for Cyborg. Occasionally, Cyborg was able to get close enough to Kulex in order to fire his sonic cannon, scoring some nice hits.

"Ok, I've had it with you two!" Kulex exclaimed as he coughed up some blood from a hard hit by Cyborg to the stomach. The mage then muttered some spell words, and about one hundred blue colored orbs erupted from Kulex's now outstretched hand. Cyborg and Raven were too stunned to move before getting pummeled by the orbs. Electricity channeled throughout Cyborg's body, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Oh no... Cyborg!" Raven half yelled before getting shot out of the air by another blue orb. She hit the ground but rebounded and countered with her own magic, bewitching Kulex and throwing him high into the air with tremendous force. While the mage was in the sky, Raven took this time to examine Cyborg's condition. He looked pretty beaten up from the electricity, but was still okay. The dark witch used her magic to transport Cyborg to a safer location away from the fight.

"Wow... what happened to Cyborg?" Beastboy asked as he and Terra arrived.

"He was hit pretty badly by another one of Kulex's spells. He should be fine." Raven replied in her monotone voice. "But just to be sure, I'll stay with him here."

"Ok, so we'll take over fighting Kulex. You just make sure Cy is alright." Terra said, getting ready to fight Kulex. Beastboy turned into a T-rex, also ready for the incoming mage. Sure enough, Kulex then teleported near the Titans.

"I must admit, that was a fairly good shot. However, I am not through here." Kulex said, his eyes started to glow red from beneath the shadow of his hood. The dark mage did a surprise attack as he quickly unsheathed his sword and charged up to Terra, cutting a rather deep gash in her upper right arm. Beastboy quickly sent Kulex rocketing into a tree by hitting the dark mage with his dinosaur tail, then transforming back to his regular form.

"Oh damn, I'm sorry Terra. I should have been quicker and stopped Kulex from attacking you." Beastboy said in a hurry as he saw Terra's bleeding shoulder.

"It's alright Beastboy, it's not your fault..." Terra replied with a small smile as she tried to stop the bleeding.

Raven walked up to the two Titans, and quickly preformed a light healing spell, reducing Terra's wound to nothing more than a scratch. "There. And next time Beastboy, don't panic so much." the dark witch said as she went back to guarding Cyborg.

"Thanks Rae, I own you one." Terra said, happily examining her now closed wound. "And I'm gonna show Kulex exactly what I think of him..." the blonde said with a mischievous smile.

"Uh Terra, what are you going to do?" Beastboy asked, unsure of Terra's plan.

"Just watch and you'll see."

Kulex had now recovered and was starting to charge at the two Titans again. Terra summoned a large boulder and hopped on, starting to fly at the approaching mage. She flew a few feet over him, and Kulex began to fly upward after her. However, Terra quickly summoned a smaller boulder and hopped on it. The blonde then sent the original one flying back down to earth, hitting the unsuspecting Kulex hard, sending him crashing into the ground with the boulder. She then quickly landed down next to an amazed Beastboy.

"So, how was that for pay back?" Terra asked the shape shifter with a large grin.

"Wow... that was awesome!" Beastboy replied as he hugged a smiling Terra.

Kulex slowly got back up, only to see Lord Firesprite next to him. "Apparently, you Titans have some potential in you, but the fact remains that I now possess the Gem of Strength. We will meet again very soon, and next time, I will be more powerful than all of you combined!" the dark warrior exclaimed. Robin and Starfire now regrouped with Beastboy, Terra, and Raven.

"This isn't over yet, Lord Firesprite. When we do meet again, we will defeat you!" Robin hollered.

"Heh heh heh... That's what you think. Anyway, Kulex, take Breaker's body and let's get back to the base. Make sure you get in contact with Slade later on and tell him to be ready to proceed with the plan." And with that, Lord Firesprite teleported away, the Gem of Strength in his possession. Kulex followed shortly after grabbing hold of Breaker's inactive body.

"Just you wait Titans, soon you will witness the complete power of all three Gems combined...." Kulex then warped away as well. The Titans just stood there, trying to relax after the big fight.

"Hey wait a minute. Didn't he mention something about Slade?" Terra pointed out.

"Yeah, and I think that's our next target after we recover from this fight..." Robin said with a serious voice, thinking about the future of Jump City.

(To be continued...)

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And there you have it. I hope I didn't bore you with the really long battle sequence; please forgive me if I did. ;) Anyways, next chapter coming soon! Please review!


	8. The Merging of the Gems

Finally, chapter 8 is done! :) A big thanks for all my reviewers! Enjoy.

**legato 626**: I'll try. ;) Thank you for the review, really cheered me up! :)

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Chapter 8: The Merging of the Gems

The Titans returned back to their Tower soon after the fight with Lord Firesprite and company. No one really had anything to say, partially since Lord Firesprite managed to get away with the Gem of Strength, even though the Titans tried their best to prevent it.

Raven carefully placed Cyborg's body on the couch using her powers. The robotic teen started to wake up at last. "Wow... what happened?" Cyborg said as he shook his head.

"Uh, do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?" Beastboy said, looking rather down.

Cyborg gave him a puzzled look. "I guess the good news. So, how did you guys stop Firesprite and the other two?" the half robotic teen asked with a grin.

"I don't think there is any good news... Firesprite got away with the Gem." Terra said in a low voice.

Cyborg snapped out of drowsiness rather quickly after hearing that. "What?! Ya'll mean that we lost!"

The Titans looked at each other, rather uneasy. "We didn't _lose_, we just got... uh... well alright, so we did lose just this battle, but that does not mean we lost completely. I bet you Firesprite will try something stupid with those Gems and..." Robin immediately stopped talking as he just realized what he said.

"Robin, what is wrong?" Starfire asked with care in her eyes.

Robin took a deep breath. "Do you guys know that now Firesprite has all three Gems?" the Boy Wonder asked.

"And what does that have to do with anything?" Cyborg asked with frustration.

"It means many things. Did I tell you what happens when the Gems of Chaos, Power, and Strength merge?" Robin asked the group of Titans. Everyone shook their heads.

Taking another deep breath, Robin started to explain. "When all three of the Gems merge together, they produce one single gemstone. And that gemstone is the power of all three Gems combined. So what is the big deal?" the Boy Wonder asked rhetorically. All the other Titans payed close attention. "The final gemstone, called the Illusion Stone, has tremendous power. If Lord Firesprite figures out how to use it, which I bet he already does, then he can destroy Jump City in a matter of seconds."

Raven got an idea. "But what if we can destroy the Illusion Stone before Firesprite has a chance to use it?"

"That would be a great, but the Illusion Stone can't be destroyed by normal attacks. The only way to destroy it is to kill the person who possesses it. There is a catch to this." the Boy Wonder continued, "The Illusion Stone binds itself to the person who created it, meaning Lord Firesprite. In other words, it becomes part of the person who merged the three Gems."

"So to get rid of that Illusion Stone, we have to kill Lord Firesprite, right?" Beastboy asked, hoping for a positive answer.

"Yes, exactly. If we kill Firesprite, then the Stone will be gone, too. Also, anything that the Stone did will be undone." Robin explained.

Cyborg, as everyone else, was rather amazed that Robin managed to figure all this out. "Ey, how do you know all this?" was Cyborg's only question.

Robin chuckled and said, "Mostly the Internet. Except that I really had to spend some time on it. Anyway, I'm going to sleep now, and I promise I won't stay on the computer all night again, Star" Robin said, grinning at Starfire, who smiled back, as he walked into his room.

Everyone else also decided to call it a day. Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg already went to their rooms after saying good night to each other. Beastboy and Terra started on their way to their rooms.

"Um, Beastboy?" Terra asked as she and Beastboy walked down the hallway that led to each of their rooms.

"Yes?" was Beastboy's reply.

"Do you think we'll be able to get rid of Firesprite because right about now I doubt we can get anywhere."

Beastboy stopped walking as Terra did. "Its alright, we'll get through this, just like we did whenever we fought any other enemy." the shape shifter reassured.

Terra lightened up a bit. "Ok, but still, what if we can't stop Firesprite and he destroys Jump City?" the blonde asked as the two Titans resumed walking.

"Terra, you gotta stop being so serious. Everything will be fine, don't worry about it." Beastboy smiled as he shared a quick good night kiss with Terra after the two reached their rooms.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks BB, and good night!" Terra said and went off to her room.

"Night!" Beastboy voiced. 'I just hope that we stop Firesprite...' the shape shifter thought, rather unsure of himself as he too went to his room.

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(At Lord Firesprite's Palace)

Kulex teleported before Lord Firesprite's throne with Breaker's body. "I have arrived my lord. What should I do with Breaker?" the dark mage growled as he quickly bowed.

Lord Firesprite sat up from his throne and walked over to Kulex. "Take Breaker's body to the lab. I shall take it from there. For now, take a breather before we proceed with the rest of the master plan." And with that, Lord Firesprite levitated Breaker's metal body with his powers and started walking towards the laboratory. Once he arrived, the dark warrior placed Breaker on an elevated platform that stood in the middle of this room. The entire laboratory was filled with computers or some other kinds of monitors, everything making beeping noises periodically.

"And now to restore Breaker, and give him an extra boost as well..." the dark warrior muttered as he attached two neon red cords to Breaker's head. He flipped a switch and the cords immediately began to glow bright and some sort of liquid started flowing through them. Breaker's eyes flickered open, and shone a deep crimson. He jumped to his feet with a start, the two cords automatically unplugging themselves from him.

"Where are the Titans?!" Breaker howled at no one in particular.

Lord Firesprite chuckled and said in a low voice, "They aren't here, but believe me, you will get revenge on them, especially that green one and his blonde friend."

The alien robot calmed down a bit and realized where we was. "Ah, sorry for my outburst. Thank you for restoring me, my lord." Breaker said, bowing down.

"There is no need for that. Right now I have to get Kulex and discuss the remainder of the plan with you two."

"I see. I shall find him at once." the alien robot said, teleporting to another room.

Once Kulex and Breaker had assembled in the main throne room, Lord Firesprite got off his computer and proceeded towards the two fighters. "Ok, here is what we need to do. The three Gems take time to merge, but I guarantee you that the Titans will interfere. I can't leave you two to handle them since I am going to need you as well after the Gems merge. So I have this idea: I'll transport them to the World of Darkness for a time." the dark warrior explained.

"Excuse me for my interruption, but what is the World of Darkness?" Kulex asked in a hoarse voice.

"It's a planet in the far reaches of the galaxy. I spent many of my days there after leaving Heatwave. That place is full of many traps and powerful monsters, so I believe it should keep the Titans occupied while we proceed to merge the Gems. Also, Kulex, did you contact Slade regarding if he will join us?" Lord Firesprite asked the dark mage.

"Yes, he agreed and asked when and where it will take place."

"Excellent, another great warrior to join us. Tell him at midnight at the docks."

The dark mage nodded and teleported away. "Ok, and for you Breaker, come with me. I need to work on your suit's weapons so we are prepared if anyone should interrupt the plan." the dark warrior said, leading Breaker back to the lab.

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(At Titans Tower, afternoon)

All the Titans woke up later than usual as a result of the fight from the day before. No one was in the mood to fight Lord Firesprite and company, but Robin insisted that they get ready just in case.

Everyone was training outside the Tower, Robin sometimes going to his computer for research. An hour later, all the Titans decided to take a lunch break.

"Ugh, where's Robin?" Cyborg asked, getting himself a soda.

"Most likely in his room. Should I go get him?" Starfire asked as she chewed on her slice of pizza.

"Sure, and tell him to take a break; he's been in almost ever since he woke up." the half robotic teen said, waiting for his slice of double cheese pizza to finish heating up in the microwave.

Starfire walked to Robin's door and knocked. "Robin, we are taking a break from training and wish for you to join us." Starfire chirped.

"Be there in a second!" Robin hollered from inside his room.

"So, is he coming or what?" Raven asked the approaching Tamaranian girl.

Starfire nodded and said, "Yes, he said that he will be here soon." She sat down and continued to eat her pizza. About five minutes later, Robin showed up, looking rather drowsy.

"Sorry Titans, I was just trying to find where Slade could be." the Boy Wonder said, Cyborg passing him a can of soda.

"Dude, you seriously gotta relax once in a while. Just look, you're practically falling asleep!" Beastboy said. Indeed, Robin was pretty much pushing his own limits.

"I guess you're right, I'll _try_ to take a break." Robin said with a grin. "Anyways, after I find out where Slade is, we'll need to go and question him if he knows anything about Firesprite. Tell you what. How about I go and just find where Slade is so we get that part over with? Ok then, I'll be a few minutes!" The Boy Wonder then rushed off back to his computer before anyone had a chance to say anything.

Raven sighed. "I think we need to destroy that computer before he starts to live on it." the dark witch muttered, continuing to read her book. Everyone just relaxed after eating, waiting for Robin to uncover Slade's location.

"Do you think ya'll can beat Slade again if he acts up?" Cyborg questioned Beastboy while playing him in Killer Instinct as usual.

"Maybe, but compared to Firesprite, how hard can he be?" Beastboy replied, mashing random buttons on his controller like mad.

"We already fought Slade many times before, and he wasn't actually that easy..." Terra said, who was watching Cyborg and Beastboy play video games.

"Aw comon, stop being so negative!" Beastboy said with a grin, earning a playful punch from Terra.

"Anyways, let's go see if Robin is finished. I don't feel like losing to you again." Cyborg said coolly, putting down his controller after getting eliminated by Beastboy for the third time in a row. The other two Titans agreed and they went to check up on Robin's progress. However, they found that they really didn't need to since Robin came out of his room and took a drink of soda.

"So, found out where Slade is?" Beastboy asked as the three Titans met up with the Boy Wonder.

"Yeah, he's at the docks. So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Robin said enthusiastically. Starfire and Raven both met up with Robin and where already waiting.

"Looks like Robin fully rested..." Beastboy joked, getting a few laughs from Terra and Cyborg.

The Titans arrived at the docks by 9 o'clock that evening. The place was deserted, not a creature in sight.

"Uh, Robin, are you sure that this is the place?" Terra asked, not really sure that they went to the right place.

"Yeah, I'm positive. Maybe if we look around..." Robin started, but stopped as he heard some people talking in a nearby abandon warehouse. "Shh, I hear something, let's check here."

The Titans then hid behind one of the rusty metal doors that led into the old warehouse. Beastboy morphed into a mouse and scurried closer to the group of people. The shape shifter stopped moving as he realized who the group of people were: Lord Firesprite, Breaker, Kulex, and Slade. Lord Firesprite was even holding the Gems of Chaos, Strength, and Power.

"So, are we ready to finalize this merging?" Slade asked in a calm voice.

"Yes, yes. We have gathered all the Gems. I thank your for participating." Lord Firesprite said in a low voice. "If the Titans show up, I have a backup plan to get them out of our way." After hearing this, Beastboy quickly scurried back to the Titans.

"Dude, it's Firesprite, Breaker and Kulex, and **Slade**!" Beastboy whispered.

"That's not good, we need to stop them! Titans go!" Robin commanded, readying his staff.

Lord Firesprite and company quickly turned around. "Ah, so the Titans have showed up after all. Not a problem."

"Yeah, and we are ready for you this time!" Cyborg yelled out as the rest of the Titans took their battle stances.

"This is really getting quite annoying, eh? But fear not, I will not kill you now." Lord Firesprite growled.

"What are you planning anyway? Well whatever it is, we will defeat you this time!" Terra voiced.

The group of dark fighters simply stood there. "We shall show you. Observe." said Slade. He held the Gem of Chaos as he passed the Gem of Power to Lord Firesprite. Breaker took the Gem of Strength. They formed a small circle and Kulex proceeded to stand in the middle. Firesprite, Breaker, and Slade chanted some words and the three Gems began to glow, levitating themselves in midair.

"The Gems are merging! We have to stop them!" Robin said, as he charged up to Breaker who was nearest to him. However, Robin found his way blocked by a forcefield undoubtedly made by Lord Firesprite.

"I knew you would show up to stop us, so I formed this neat forcefield to keep you out. Now enjoy the show." Lord Firesprite said, starting to laugh maniacally. The Titans could do nothing but watch.

The three Gems started to circle around Kulex at lightning speed. Eventually, the ground began to rumble and Lord Firesprite nimbly switched places with Kulex in the center. The Gems then flashed a dark violet, and started to spin closer and closer to Lord Firesprite. Once they reached Lord Firesprite, the three Gems stopped spinning and levitated over the dark warrior. They emitted a powerful beam of violet light, shining it right at Lord Firesprite. The Gems turned into small particles and started to stream into Lord Firesprite's body, also turning him a color of violet. After a few minutes, the rumbling stopped and everything was silent. Lord Firesprite stepped forward, in his hand was a rather thin, silver colored jewel: the Illusion Stone. The dark warrior's eyes now shone a bloody red color, and his sword became larger and sharper. He stood there and just laughed at the horrified Titans.

"And now I shall get rid of you so we can go on and take over the city!" Lord Firesprite hollered in an eerie voice, causing the Titans to regroup, Starfire holding on to Robin and Terra holding Beastboy's arm. Cyborg and Raven were also staying closer together. The dark warrior lifted the Illusion Stone and said a few words. The Illusion Stone, temporarily turning a crimson color, flashed and like electricity formed a portal. Lord Firesprite gave the Stone further commands, and the portal engulfed the defenseless Titans, throwing them inside.

"Ha ha ha! Farewell Titans, may we meet again!" Lord Firesprite hollered as the portal closed up.

(To be continued...)

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Ok, and there ends chapter 8. Hope you enjoyed that, and please review! Next chapter coming soon. ;)


	9. A World of Darkness

Alrighty, chapter 9 is here! I give a huge thanks to all my reviewers; you're all great. (bows down) :) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans... or do I? ;)

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Chapter 9: A World of Darkness

The Titans found themselves flying through some kind of strange tunnel. In fact, it wasn't really a tunnel, more like a dark violet wormhole. Random flashes of light passed them as the teens were being sucked further down the wormhole at an unimaginable speed.

"What... what is this place?!" Starfire hollered as she was being thrown in all directions.

"I don't know! I just hope that we don't get thrown into an alternate dimension or something!" Robin yelled back, his voice rather muted from the roar of the wormhole. Not long after, there was a great flash of deep red light, and everyone blacked out...

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Beastboy slowly opened his eyes, unsure of what just happened. He sat up and had a very brief look around. His vision was temporarily blurred, so he couldn't make out exactly where he was. 'Wow... where am I?' the shape shifter pondered. And then he remembered. Lord Firesprite had thrown all the Titans into a weird portal, and they were hurdling at light speed through some kind of wormhole, or was it a vortex? The shape shifter stood up, stretching out his legs.

His vision finally cleared up, and Beastboy could see what was going on. In front of him was a steep drop, the bottom could not be seen clearly due to clouds that covered most of the area below. There was no vegetation around, and more clouds were covering the sky above. The ground was rather red in color, its texture looked like a cross between granite and marble, but was soft like soil. Undoubtedly, he must be on some kind of mountain. Judging from the clouds that blanketed the view below the mountain, the shape shifter concluded that he must be high up. Beastboy scanned the area around him for any sign of the other Titans, but he saw nothing except more upward slopes and dirt. However, he saw something, or rather someone, curled up near one large boulder that was jutting out of the ground. The shape shifter came closer, and realized that it was indeed a person, and that blonde hair was an absolute giveaway.

'Oh no... Terra...' Beastboy quickly ran over and held the unconscious Terra in his arms. Luckily, she was breathing. "Terra, are you ok?" Beastboy whispered to the blonde teen, her eyes slowly opening.

"Huh... what's going on?" Terra's eyes focused and she saw Beastboy's radiant face. With a smile to match his, Terra took one hand and stroked his cheek. "Hey Beastboy!" Terra said, sitting up.

"Phew, you're okay... I thought that you may have been hurt or something when we were flying through that wormhole, or whatever it was." Beastboy said, giving Terra a quick kiss on her neck.

Terra looked a little confused. "What wormhole are you talking about? And where are we?" the blonde teen questioned, noticing that the landscape and sky were different.

"I dunno myself, I think it could be like another dimension or something like that from a sci-fi movie. Do you remember what happened at all?" Beastboy asked Terra as they both stood up.

Terra tried to recall what happened. "Um, yeah it's coming back to me now. Firesprite sent us into a time portal I think and then I just blacked out." Terra said, starting to walk around to familiarize herself with this strange place. After reaching the edge of a cliff, Terra stood there, goggling at the sight before her. "Wow... BB, take a look at this!" the blonde pointed to the view the mountain provided through a large gap in the cloud cover. Beastboy ran over and was also able to get a good look.

The break in the clouds revealed that the lands below the mountain were just as strange. Several rivers spanned the place, draining into small lakes. There was nothing green, no grass, no trees, no nothing. Instead, whatever grass could be seen was either yellow or brown in color. The trees were dead or dieing judging from the mix of brown, yellow, and orange colors their leaves had. Other vegetation was simply not present. There was also a large lake some distance from the mountain, but its water possessed a light purple color.

To the distant far left, there could be seen a dense forest, and a silver fog that eliminated any visibility past it. To the equally distant far right, there seemed to be some kind of marsh lands, but the two Titans couldn't be sure. However, the most prominent feature was the large, golden pyramid that stood in the center of these lands. It seemed to be a little smaller than the mountain they were standing on.

"What is this place?" Terra asked while looking at the lands, not really sure if this even Earth anymore.

"Well, we know one thing's for sure: there aren't any people around here. I think that this might be another planet."

"It might, but where are the rest of the Titans? Have you tried your communicator?"

"Oh yeah... why didn't I think of that?" Beastboy sighed as he took out his communicator, trying to call Robin and the other Titans. However, he only received static. "Well, so much for that..."

Terra got an idea. "How about we have a look around? I'll summon us a boulder and we can go down there and explore this place." Beastboy agreed, and Terra tried to summon a boulder, but nothing happened. Both Titans were confused, and Terra tried again with the same results.

"Why aren't my powers working?" Terra asked, looking at her hands. Beastboy tried to morph into a bird, but just like Terra, he got nowhere.

"Looks like our powers don't work here... and it's not a good time either." Beastboy said, getting a look of fear.

"Beastboy... what's wrong?" Terra asked, giving the shape shifter a puzzled look. Beastboy merely pointed to something behind her. Terra turned around, and was met with an unpleasant sight.

It turned out to be some kind of creature native to this planet. It stood about eight feet in height with thin, orange eyes. The body was rather muscular and wide, covered with dark green scales for skin. Three sharp talons were protruding from both of its hands. After seeing the two petrified Titans, the creature emitted a loud, piercing roar, revealing a mouth full of long, carnivorous teeth.

"Um... I think we should run... fast!" Beastboy managed to mutter, before grabbing Terra's hand and running like there was no tomorrow, the creature in close pursuit. Beastboy and Terra kept running, dodging the occasional hole in the ground and steep edges of the mountain. The creature behind them was showing no signs of tiring.

"Beastboy... I think we need... to hide or something... or this thing will kill us for sure!" Terra yelled over, in between gasps for air while she sprinted.

The shape shifter seemed to be thinking along those lines. "Good idea... how about that... tunnel over there!?" Beastboy yelled back, noting a small tunnel up ahead.

"Looks good... just as long as we ditch that thing!" Terra replied, trying to ignore the tremendous side pain.

With some tricky movements, Beastboy and Terra managed to conceal themselves behind a large rock near the entrance of the tunnel, the creature chasing after them stopping dead in its tracks. The two Titans held their breaths, hoping the insane creature wouldn't notice them. Luckily it didn't, and proceeded to walk away.

Terra and Beastboy both exhaled. "That was a close one..." the shape shifter commented.

"Yeah... but I wonder, where does this tunnel lead to anyway?" Terra questioned, looking into the darkness of the passageway.

"Dunno, but maybe it leads out of this mountain. We could try going through it, but we won't see anything in there." Beastboy said.

Terra looked a little closer into the tunnel's darkness. "Actually, it's not all that dark. Look, you can see a bit of light over there." the blonde said, pointing to a small speck of light somewhere deeper in the tunnel.

"Wow, you're right! So I guess we can try going in, but carefully." Beastboy said, starting to walk into the tunnel. Terra slipped her hand into his hand, and the two started off slowly towards the light, Beastboy getting his head smacked by the occasional stalactite. After some time, the two Titans reached the source of the light that Terra pointed out earlier. It turned out to be some kind of wall torch, jutting out of the cave's wall. As a matter of fact, there were even more torches lining the walls of the the tunnel further down.

"I think there might be people here. Who else could have lit these torches?" Terra noted, looking down the tunnel.

"You might be right, but let's not assume anything yet. I say we follow this path, it has to lead somewhere." Beastboy said. Terra nodded, tightening her grip on Beastboy's hand, and the two Titans set off down the eerie passageway.

After some time of walking, Terra was beginning to worry. "How long have we been walking through this tunnel, BB?"

Beastboy stopped and thought for a moment. "I'd say at least two hours. And if you notice, we are always walking down, so I guess this path must lead out of the mountain. If you are tired, we could rest if you want." the shape shifter said.

"No it's okay, I'm not really tired, just worried a bit." Terra replied as the two Titans resumed walking.

"Why, what's wrong?" Beastboy asked, concern in his voice.

Terra just sighed and glanced back. "Well, it's nothing really, but do you get the feeling that we are being followed?" the blonde asked, staying closer to Beastboy.

"Hmm, not really, but this place is giving me the creeps. It would be really useful if our powers still... WOW!" Beastboy was cut off as he tripped over something on the cave floor.

Terra giggled slightly at Beastboy's expression, helping him up. "Are you okay?" she asked, still giggling.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What did I trip over anyways?" Beastboy asked rhetorically, looking down on the cave floor. After seeing what was there, he yelled in fright. Terra followed suit after she saw what Beastboy was screaming about: a decaying skeleton of a person, or at least they thought it was a person.

"Yup, this place is officially creepy!" Beastboy said, calming down. "But if you look closely, this skeleton can't be from a normal human since its jaw is kinda stretched out, and the teeth are sharp."

Terra forced herself to look at the skeleton again, and she noted what Beastboy pointed out. Indeed, this skeleton did not belong to a regular human. "Hmm... yeah, you're right. Can we discuss this later after we get out of here?" the blonde asked, once again taking hold of Beastboy's arm.

"Sure, I really don't want to be here any longer either." Beastboy said as they sidestepped the skeleton and continued further down the passage. However, the rest of the passage contained some bones on the ground, as well as more skeletons similar to the one they first saw.

After about another two hours of walking, the two exhausted Titans could see the end of the long tunnel. Beastboy and Terra both ran outside, getting a fresh breath of air.

"Heh, there is no way I'm going back in there." Beastboy said coolly as he and Terra approached a small pond off to the side. It was covered in the shadow of the gigantic mountain, and there were a few dead trees here and there. The shape shifter was about to stick his hands into the cool water before Terra stopped him.

"BB what are you doing?! There are piranhas or something swimming in there!" Terra said, holding back Beastboy.

Beastboy had a look in the water and noticed the weird fish. They looked like piranhas, except their razor sharp teeth stuck out of their jaws a bit, and their bodies were long and almost eel-like. "Whoops, thanks for stopping me Terra. I probably would have lost an arm if one of those things bit me." the shape shifter joked around.

Terra just sighed. "Please be careful BB, especially since we don't know this place really well."

"Sure, whatever you say your majesty!" Beastboy pretended to bow. Terra giggled as the two began walking down a crude path made from overturned dirt. The Titans walked on, passing a few dead trees and some holes in the ground, not really sure where they were going. However, as they walked, something was sneaking around the bushes just ahead of them. Suddenly, a wolf-like animal jumped out from the bushes ahead and growled at the two. Beastboy and Terra immediately stopped walking. The animal was identical to a wolf, except that it had a coat of silver fur and deep orange eyes like those of the creature on top of the mountain. Beastboy slowed stepped in front of Terra to shield her.

"Oh great, first we get chased by a lunatic beast on top of the mountain, and now this wolf thing is looking at me like I'm food!" Beastboy commented as he and Terra started to back away from the proceeding animal. Beastboy braced himself as the wolf-like creature looked like it was about to pounce on him. However, much to both both Titans' surprise, the wolf simply sniffed Beastboy, circled the two, and ran off back into the bushes.

Beastboy looked a little perplexed. "What? Do I really smell that bad?" the shape shifter asked, earning a laugh from Terra.

"No you don't, but I guess that wolf thought you did." Terra laughed. Beastboy gave her a goofy face, making the blonde teen laugh even more.

After half an hour of walking, the sky started to darken, signaling the approaching night. "I think we should find a place to rest for the night. Who knows what kind of creatures are awake." Terra said after yawning. Beastboy nodded, and the two started in search of a relatively safe place to spend the night. This world looked even scarier at night: the dead trees cast crooked shadows from the light of the two moons alight in the sky. Clouds were starting to congregate, covering the once clear night sky. Light was starting to get limited, so Beastboy and Terra walked carefully over the terrain as the path began to fade into the darkness of the night.

Both Titans were ready to just fall asleep on the ground had they not noticed some peculiar lights on top of a small hill just ahead. "Hmm... maybe there is a town over there." Terra thought aloud.

"Good idea, let's go check." Beastboy said, taking Terra's hand into his own to make sure they wouldn't get separated in this pitch black darkness. Upon reaching the top of the hill, they found out that there was no town here, but instead some geysers. However, these geysers shot flames into the air, lighting up the area temporarily. The shape shifter grabbed a dead stick off the ground, carefully walked up to a flaming geyser and set the stick on fire, creating a torch.

"Good thinking, eh?" Beastboy smiled as he approached Terra. She nodded with a grin to match his and took hold of Beastboy's hand again. "Hey, do you see that cave over there?" the shape shifter pointed out a small cave not far from the geysers.

"Looks like a nice place to stay for the night. Let's check it out." Terra said, as the two Titans went to have a look around inside the small cave. The walls of the cave were smooth, having a glossy gray tint. It was also a perfect size; no bigger than Beastboy's room back at Titans Tower. It started to get cold outside, so Beastboy took some more sticks and formed a small campfire near the entrance of the cave. Since neither of them had any warm clothing on, except for their usual clothes, both Titans started to get chilly.

Walking to a comfortable corner of this cave, Beastboy sat down and cuddled Terra up in his arms for warmth. Terra closed her eyes and nuzzled into Beastboy's neck. The shape shifter in turn took one hand and gently stroked her golden blonde hair.

"Um... BB, what if some animal finds us here and attacks us when we are sleeping?" Terra whispered to Beastboy. The shape shifter put on a reassuring smile and held her tighter.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing hurts you." Beastboy planted a small kiss on Terra's neck. "Just relax and sleep tight. Tomorrow we need to find out where everyone else is, and hopefully get back home."

Terra smiled softly. "Thanks BB." the blonde whispered, snuggling as close as possible to Beastboy and resting her head on his chest.

"Not a problem!" Beastboy said in a soothing voice, bringing his face closer to Terra's as they leaned in for a kiss.

Their lips met and Beastboy slipped his tongue in Terra's mouth as she followed suit. Both teens slowly closed their eyes as the kiss intensified. Beastboy slowly rubbed Terra's back as she stroked his cheek with one hand, the other wrapped around him. After a minute, Terra then moved her hand up to the shape shifter's pointy ears and played around with them. Beastboy moved on to rubbing Terra's neck with one hand, the other still soothing her back.

Terra loved everything about Beastboy. He always could comfort her in any given situation, no matter how depressing it was. He always took care of her, no matter if it required putting himself in danger. She never loved anyone more than Beastboy, especially since Beastboy loved her back just as much.

Beastboy also loved Terra with all his heart. No other girl could ever take her place, and that was final. He made a personal promise to keep her safe from harm's way, and that he was going to do. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Terra, and he was positive she felt the same.

The two Titans slowly broke the kiss, opening their eyes very slowly, still keeping their faces close. "I love you BB..." Terra said in a soft voice as the two shared a tight embrace.

"Love you too, Terra..." Beastboy whispered, holding Terra close as she snuggled, her head resting serenely on his chest. The shape shifter then gave her one more kiss and leaned his head back against the smooth cave walls.

Both drifted off to sleep, happy in each other's arms.

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And so ends chapter 9. Heh, I think that's my favorite chapter so far. ;) Anyways, I thank all my reviewers once again for taking the time to read. Stay tuned for the next chapter!


	10. Lost and Losing Hope

I finally had some time to finish writing this chapter. Sorry for keeping you waiting. Anyways, enjoy!

**D-I-WaRrIa**: I really thank you for reviewing! And yes, I do love the BB/T pairing. ;)

**legato 626**: Thanks for reviewing, I'll be waiting for you to update your story as well!

**Taiba**: If you really hate Terra as much as you say, then simply don't read this fic. Easy as that.

**InsaneLynx**: More fluff to come. ;)

And to anyone else: thanks for your reviews, they really mean a lot to me! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans. (I might as well copy/paste this message)

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Chapter 10: Lost and Losing Hope

It all happened in a matter of seconds: Lord Firesprite, the wormhole, and blacking out. 'What had happened to the rest of the Titans? Where did that portal send them?' Unpleasant thoughts passed through Robin's head as he felt something poking him. "Huh... what happened?" Robin muttered, opening his eyes. He noticed a certain Tamaranian girl looking at him. "Starfire?"

"Robin! Are you undamaged?" Starfire asked happily as Robin sat up rubbing his sore arms.

"Yeah, I'm ok. But... where are we?" Robin questioned, slowly coming about. The very first thing he noticed was the dense fog. It was everywhere; the misty gray cloud covered practically everything around him, making visibility very limited. Luckily, he could still see Starfire rather clearly.

"I'm not sure. It appears to be some kind of forest, but there are hardly any animals here." Starfire replied, helping Robin up. The Boy Wonder finally was able to examine his surroundings. Through the fog he could make out the figures of many trees. However, these trees had very thick trunks, and their leaves possessed a misty green color. Some were dead, others full of leaves. It was rather chilly here; goosebumps appearing on Robin's skin. Sounds of some animals could be heard, but there weren't many of them.

The Boy Wonder pulled out his communicator, and tried calling various Titans, but the signal would not go through. He even tried calling Starfire who stood close next to him, but failed to establish any connection to her communicator. "Sigh, looks like we are on our own for now. How long have you been awake Star?"

Starfire thought for a second. "Hmm... only for a few minutes. I walked a few feet around and saw you laying next to a tree, so I tried to awake you." the Tamaranian girl said.

"Star, I don't think we are on Earth anymore. I don't remember a place like this being anywhere. Mad Mod couldn't have made this place an illusion like he did a few times, so the only reasonable conclusion is that we must be in the World of Darkness." Robin stated, once again trying his communicator, but getting the same results.

"What is the 'World of Darkness,' Robin?" Starfire asked, looking rather perplexed. Robin stayed silent for a few seconds before answering.

"I researched it. This is where Firesprite went after getting booted from Heatwave, so I bet he caused trouble here." the Boy Wonder said, "Let's try to find the others, but try to stay close." Starfire nodded and held hands with Robin as they started making their way through the eerie fog.

Robin wasn't really sure where he was going. All that was traveling through his mind was just trying to get out of this forest. The more they walked, the thicker the fog seemed to get. There was just no way to see more than five feet through the fog, which made the two Titans more nervous.

"Robin? What if we never leave this forest?" Starfire asked Robin. Se could hardly see him, even though he was about a foot away from her.

Robin slowed down the pace. "Don't worry Star. We managed to get out of other dangerous situations, and this one if no different."

"Yes, but I am just concerned. What if the rest of our friends are in grave danger?" Starfire asked, holding on tighter to Robin from fear of getting separated. Robin could sense that Starfire was indeed suffering, but then an idea came to him.

Robin stopped walking, and turned around to face Starfire, more or less. "Star, why don't you just fly up higher so we could get an idea of where we are?" the Boy Wonder asked, mentally cursing himself for not thinking of this sooner.

A smile flashed across Starfire's face. "That's a great idea Robin! I shall fly up now and examine our location!" And with that, Starfire jumped and tried to become airborne, but instead crashed back into the cold ground.

"Starfire!" Robin shouted as he ran up to Starfire, helping her up. "Are you okay?"

Starfire massaged her back. "Yes, I am not damaged. But why couldn't I fly up?" the Tamaranian asked, panic starting to take over her.

Robin wondered for a second. "Try firing a star bolt, I think I know what's going on."

Starfire snapped out of her worried state and charged up a bolt, which she attempted to throw. Much to her disappointment, the bolt didn't fire and instead just vanished into the air. "Oh no... something's wrong with my powers! We could get attacked or worse!" Starfire was clearly starting to panic.

Robin placed a caring hand on her cheek. "It's okay; there is nothing wrong with your powers. I think that the curse over this forest is preventing any magical attacks." Starfire relaxed after hearing Robin's comforting words. She placed her hand on top of Robin's, slightly closing her eyes.

"Thank you Robin, I thought that maybe I lost my powers." Starfire replied, feeling much better. Robin smiled after seeing Starfire's mood improve. He slowly removed his hand from Starfire's cheek and took hold of her other hand. "So, are you ready to move on?"

"Yes, let's find our friends and get out of this place!" Starfire chirped as the two started walking again.

The mystical fog started to become very dense now, allowing absolutely no visibility. Robin tried to keep positive, although that was no hard to do. The Boy Wonder was actually hoping for the fog to clear up, but that didn't look like it was going to happen for quite sometime. Starfire was also starting to get concerned about their safety. For all she knew, this forest could never end. After fighting their way through some tough vegetation, the fog suddenly faded away, as though it never even existed.

"Wow..." was Robin's only comment at the sight before them. Starfire was also in awe. They stood on top of a small hill, gazing down at some ancient shrine not far below. It was compromised of a small, open air building, no bigger than a shed. In the building there stood a statue of some sort. The grounds were just as big as basketball court, in which no tree or any other form of vegetation grew. "C'mon Star, let's check this place out." the Boy Wonder said, cautiously approaching the shrine.

Starfire took a look around. There were a few relics scattered on the ground, which looked burn and torn as though some battle took place here. Indeed, a few crude weapons--spears, bows, arrows, and shields--were laying around, most of them destroyed and rendered unusable. "This place must have been attacked. The walls of this structure are damaged, and there is destroyed weaponry on the ground." Starfire pointed out as she and Robin walked up to the statue in the small building.

"I think you are right, Star." Robin said, having a closer look around. He moved on to examine the statue: a sculpture of a creature, probably made out of black marble. It was half the height of Robin and looked like an angel and demon mixed. There were two horns jutting out of its head, but wings were protruding from its back. The face was rather disturbing. Its eyes were just shallow sockets, and part of its nose was missing. The face all together looked depressed, but its mouth was grinning wide open, as though it just committed a murder. The statue held its hands up, as though it was offering someone a gift, but there was nothing in them. Clearly, there must have been some object here at one time. "Now this is just weird..." Robin commented, backing away from this horrific sculpture.

Starfire didn't like the look of it either, shuddering somewhat. "Umm... I think that I am 'creeped out' as you would say." The two Titans then went on to just glance at the ground, littered with debris of bones, weapons, and skulls, before starting to walk out of the grounds. However, just as they were about to leave, an eerie music was emitted from a nearby statue, similar to the one in the building, but much taller. The organ music played at two second intervals, and the two Titans were able to make out messages such as 'Leave or die...' and 'Your blood will quench the soil...' Both Robin and Starfire went wide-eyed anime style before running at top speed away from this place, not caring that the fog picked up.

"Star, whatever you do, don't slow down!" Robin hollered, fighting his way through some more dense vegetation. Starfire looked like she would pass out from fear and exhaustion. The Tamaranian girl just nodded, not daring to look back even though the new fog prevented any visibility.

"Robin, I want to get out of here!" Starfire yelled back, running like mad with Robin in no particular direction.

The Boy Wonder picked up the speed. "Don't worry Star, we'll get out." This forest was obviously cursed, and those grounds back there were starting to haunt his mind. What exactly was that statue in the shrine holding previously? Why where all those broken weapons and skulls laying around there? Robin didn't care at the moment; all that he wanted was just to see the sunlight again, to leave this place, and to make sure Starfire would be alright.

The two Titans were fighting through the bush for the last few minutes, both starting to tire out. They stopped to catch their breath under a dead tree. Starfire was still rather pale and Robin looked as though he couldn't run anymore.

"Do you think we'll ever manage to escape this forest?" Starfire asked, not really sure of herself.

Robin simply sighed placed a hand on her cheek again. "Look Star, like I said before, we _will_ get out of here. You can't lose hope, otherwise you'll give up and be stuck here. Now we don't want that, do we?"

Starfire smiled and shook her head. Robin put on a grin, and gently took Starfire's hand. "Now let's get out here!" the Boy Wonder said as he and Starfire started working their way through the forest.

Another hour passed. Then another... and another. Slashing the dense vegetation took a heavy toll on Robin's energy as he used his staff to fight through some irritating plants that blocked the path ahead. Starfire could really do nothing more than follow Robin since her powers weren't working. Robin paused temporarily to catch his breath.

"Sigh, this is some forest. It's taking pretty much all my energy just to get rid of these damn plants." Robin said, rubbing his hands together.

"We could rest if you need to." Starfire said, "I just wish that I could help you..." the Tamaranian girl looked frustrated at herself for not being able to aid Robin.

The Boy Wonder stretched his arms out. "Star, it's not your fault. I told you, there is a curse over this forest, and probably that's why."

Starfire tried to lighten up. "I just feel like I'm doing nothing but being a nuisance." Robin was a little taken back from that comment.

"You're being too hard on yourself, Star! Try to think about something positive, that should cheer you up." Robin replied with a grin. Starfire just sighed again. "I think I'm rested enough, let's go. And cheer up Star, we'll be fine." the Boy Wonder said as he began hacking through the forest once again, Starfire following closely behind him.

A cold wind blew against Robin, and with another swing of his staff, a large plant went down before him. Golden sunlight shone through the canopy of the trees in this area, the vegetation not as wild and untamed as it was before. The fog that once surrounded Robin and Starfire now became a very light mist, barely visible to the eye.

"Heh heh, I think we are done with that forest." Robin chuckled, allowing the sunlight to shine on his face.

Starfire also rejoiced at the fact that she wouldn't have to ever see that forest again, hopefully. "We are finally away from the gloomy forest!" She hugged Robin lightly as he hugged back.

"See, I told you." the Boy Wonder said coolly, walking up to the top of a nearby hill. The sun appeared to be setting; its light creating a golden tint to everything it shone on. The landscape before him was mostly flat with yellow grass, and the occasional dead tree or hill.

Starfire pointed out the shape of a pyramid that stood some distance away. "Robin, do you see that structure over there?"

"Yeah, looks to me like a pyramid or some kind of building. I always wondered what it is... but it's getting late, and we have no place to spend the night." Robin said, trying to think of a solution.

"I can offer you a place, children..." a misty voice said. Robin and Starfire immediately jumped up and turned around, ready to attack. However, they found out that the voice belonged to an elderly man, no taller than five feet and wearing a heavy brown cloak. A long white beard protruded from his wrinkled face, and he walked with the aid of a large stick. His eyes were a light green, and he didn't look dangerous at all.

Robin was the first to break the silence. "Who... who are you?" was all he manged to ask.

The elderly man chuckled slightly. "My name is Karthor, and I hail from a city, practically the only city on this planet, called Emporia. The king of Emporia has gotten word that several groups of you children have been wandering the planet. I was sent to find you."

Robin and Starfire looked a little alarmed at his last sentence. Karthor put on a confused face, and then realized why the two Titans were nervous. "He he, don't worry, I have not come to arrest you! The king simply wishes to gather you all and speak with you." the elder replied with a cheery smile. Robin and Starfire breathed a sigh of relief.

"Did you by any chance find the rest of our friends?" Starfire asked the elder.

Karthor shook his head. "Sadly, we haven't located them yet, but rest assured that we will find them. And with that, I'd like to take you to Emporia where you will hopefully be spending the night." The two Titans accepted his generous offer and proceeded to follow him.

Their pace was slow considering Karthor's old age, but at least they now had a destination. Karthor was leading them down a makeshift path made from upturned dirt and gravel. Judging from the way they were going, Robin assumed they must be heading west.

"By the way, I am Robin and this is Starfire." Robin spoke, trying to start a conversation. "How exactly did this king know that we were here?"

"That I do not know. King Smilax, oh, that's his name by the way, didn't explain the details to me. He simply told me to head in this direction and search the perimeter of Skull Forest, and so I have found you." Karthor replied, pointing to the forest that Robin and Starfire were in previously.

Starfire was waiting for this opportunity. "Friend Karthor, why have my powers not worked while Robin and I were in this 'Skull Forest?'"

"Ah yes, King Smilax had gave me some information about you all. The answer is simple: the curse over the forest prevents any magical powers. Robin was not affected because his attacks don't rely on magic to work." Karthor explained as the group traveled.

Eventually, a tall green stonewall came into view in the distance. Upon arrival, the two Titans were able to get a more detailed look. The wall was wedged in between two mountains and two huge wooden doors were located in the center of this wall. There were a few watch towers on the top of the wall and guards patrolled the grounds near the doors. This wall was over thirty stories high and cannons were sticking out of a few holes scattered throughout.

A guard approached the group. He wore some gray armor on both his chest and legs and a spiked helmet on his head, holding a spear in one hand. "Good day Karthor. Ah, I see that you have located some of the children; the king shall be most pleased. I'll open the doors, please wait a moment." The guard blew a whistle and the two oak doors slowly opened.

Karthor thanked the guard and proceeded inside with Robin and Starfire. "Welcome to Emporia!" the elderly man exclaimed, pointing to various parts of the city. Robin and Starfire were in awe. Emporia was nothing like any of the cities back on Earth. All the buildings, some small while others large, were made out of a light green stone, and their roofs were red in color. The streets, made from what appeared to be cobble, were well organized in a grid formation. Several candlelit street lights were scattered about. The people who walked around wore long, loose robes in various colors. Most of the people were between four and six feet in height and had hair past their shoulders.

In the distance could be seen a large castle with many towers and windows. It too possessed a light green tint with magenta roofs on the towers. "That is were King Smilax resides," Karthor said, pointing to the castle, "We shall go there now since he is probably waiting for us." And with that, Karthor started to lead the two Titans down a street bound for the castle. This street was filled with many small shops and houses that sparked some interest in the two Titans as they walked. In general, Emporia looked like a medieval city, but with some more advanced technology. After the short walk, they arrived at the huge castle. A guard smiled politely to Karthor and the Titans, letting them pass the drawbridge and into the castle itself.

Inside, the castle was even more majestic. A red carpet was on the floor and wall torches were bringing warm light to the hallways. A few large portraits hung from the walls here and there. "This castle is glorious! Much more grand than anything I've seen on Earth and Tamaran!" Starfire commented as they proceeded through the many hallways.

"Yes, but I suppose King Smilax did go overboard with decorating." Karthor chuckled as the group continued walking though the hallways until they reached a pair of golden doors. Two guards stood on either side, both opening the doors for the approaching party. "Now you two kneel before King Smilax when I do. He'll take it from there." the elderly man whispered as they entered the King's chamber.

This was probably the most prominent room in the castle. There was a high ceiling supported by white marble columns. A now violet carpet led the way to the throne. Another pair of guards stood opposite to each other a few feet from the throne, in which King Smilax sat. Several banners hung from the walls and small pools of water were located in the four corners of the room, complete with miniature fountains.

Karthor knelt down, Robin and Starfire following suit. "I have managed to find the two children as you asked." Karthor said, standing back up along with the two Titans after King Smilax ordered them to.

"I am very pleased with your efforts Karthor. You may go now to find the remainder of the group." King Smilax said in an official voice. The King himself was medium weight with golden armor on his torso and legs, standing at about six feet. He also wore a cape of silver and brown boots. His face was cheery: eyes light green in color and a large grin to match his attitude. The hair on top of his head was spiky and chocolate brown. "I would like to welcome you Titans to the city of Emporia!" the king exclaimed, his voice echoing throughout the room.

"Uh, we are pleased to be here. I am Robin, and this is Starfire. We are... " Robin began.

"The Teen Titans!" the king finished for him.

"Well yeah, and I was wondering how you found out who we are." Robin asked, not really expecting King Smilax to know who they were.

"A few people living in my lands have informed me that several groups of children were warped here. I consulted with my wise mages, and based on your descriptions, we assumed you were the Teen Titans." King Smilax replied. The king then thought for a moment. "Tell you what. How about you two get some sleep first, and once we gather the rest of your friends, we can discuss anything you'd like." the king offered. Robin and Starfire looked at each other and shrugged.

"I guess that me and Starfire could use some sleep. How long do you think it will take to find the rest of the Titans?" Robin asked, trying to stifle a yawn.

"I'd say no longer than three days. Anyway, I'll have my servants escort you to your rooms. Good night and sleep well!" King Smilax said, ordering two servants to lead Robin and Starfire each to their own rooms.

"Thank you, your majesty." Robin and Starfire said in unison as they left the chamber.

"Well, good night Robin!" Starfire said to Robin as a female servant lead her down a hallway outside the king's chamber.

"Night, Star!" Robin called after her, following another servant down a few hallways and up a staircase. The servant lead him to a small room with one bed, a window, and a closet. A candle on a small table provided enough light to illuminate the room. The servant closed the door and Robin immediately laid down on the comfy bed, blowing out the candle.

'This place sure is strange. I mean it's not like everyday some important king offers you a place to stay and find your lost friends. Sigh, I guess we'll start sorting this mess out in the morning...' thought Robin, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

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Phew, done with that chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and please review if you have some spare time! Please? :)


	11. Against the Odds

I finally managed to finish this chapter at last! Sorry for keeping you waiting; I had a ton of tests at school this week and it was absolute chaos. ;) Anyways, a special thanks to all my reviewers!

**D-I-WaRrIa**: That's a very good idea, I'll try to work it into the story. ;) Thanks for reviewing by the way!

**Legato 626**: Lol, thanks for reviewing! I can't wait for the next chapter in your story, so please update fast! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

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Chapter 11: Against the Odds

Flashbacks of the last few moments quickly raced through her mind. The most vivid memory was that of the wormhole, the same wormhole that she shortly blacked out in. She didn't know what would become of everyone else, or where this wormhole was taking them. 'What if the wormhole had killed the remainder of the Titans?' With that thought, Raven's eyes darted open. The dark witch sat up, breathing fast as though she just experienced a horrific nightmare.

"Where... where am I?" Raven asked aloud to no one in particular. "Robin? Starfire? Beastboy? Terra? Cyborg? Anyone?!" she yelled out, realizing that she was indeed alone. Standing up, Raven attempted to calm herself. After some quick meditation and taking a deep breath, her emotions were neutralized. Raven took this time to examine exactly where she was.

There was one thing she noticed right off the bat: the swampy water. As a matter of fact, it was everywhere! It was rather thick with a deep blue and green blend. Bubbles burst on the surface every so often, and sounds of peculiar birds echoed throughout. There were trees scattered in many places, giving the feeling of a true swamp. These trees had very thick trunks, low hanging branches, and very slender, droopy leaves. A low lime green mist hung over the swampy water for as far as the eye can see.

The sky was cloudy, though some rays of sunlight were managing to penetrate the thick blanket of dark clouds. The humidity was rather high, but not high enough to cause her to be uncomfortable. Raven noticed that she was standing on a small patch of wet grass, safe from the mucky water. 'What _is_ this place?' she asked herself, hoping that the rest of the Titans were okay, but she could not be sure of that.

'Sigh, might as well look around. Maybe I'll find someone to help me...' thought Raven as she attempted to hover over the water. Much to her surprise, she found herself unable to levitate the slightest bit!

"My... my powers! They're gone..." Raven said aloud once again. She then felt someone approaching from behind, and nimbly spun around to confront the person... or thing. She could make out the frame of a robot of some sort from the mist, well not exactly a robot. After some thought, she realized who it could be: Cyborg!

"Hey.. Rae is that you?" Cyborg asked, unsure of himself. Raven was probably never more happy to see him.

"Cyborg! Is that really you?" Raven asked, even though she knew it was Cyborg himself.

The half robotic teen lightly laughed as he walked up to her. "You bet it's me!" Cyborg said, sharing a quick hug with Raven. "Have any idea of where we are?"

Raven simply shook her head. "No, I can't remember anything except that wormhole."

Cyborg nodded and replied, "Neither do I. I tried getting in touch with the other Titans but my signal is dead. I managed to blast through some trees and luckily found you here."

After hearing that, Raven wondered why Cyborg was still able to use his powers and she couldn't. "Wait, you mean that you used your sonic cannon?"

"Well, yeah. Why?" Cyborg replied, not really understanding why Raven would ask that.

The dark witch sighed. "For some reason, I can't use my powers. I tried levitating already but that didn't work."

"Now that's really weird," the half robotic teen said, rather concerned, "But as long as my cannon works we should be safe. Let's go find the rest of the Titans and then we can plan our next move." Cyborg said, starting to walk into the swampy water.

Raven went wide-eyed. "Cyborg! What are you doing?!" she asked, worried that the water might be like quicksand and cause Cyborg to drown.

"What? Oh, if you walk on the light colored water, you won't fall in since it's kinda shallow here." Cyborg said, pointing out some light green areas of water. Raven reluctantly stepped in, finding that indeed it was very shallow here; only about an inch deep. "Just be careful Rae when we are walking." the half robotic teen added, starting to slowly navigate his way through the water.

The two Titans were making some progress through the swamp, though it was rather slow. There were a few miniature flies that looked like mosquitoes all over the place. Just like their counterparts on Earth, the flies were biting Cyborg and Raven like crazy.

"Ugh... these things are buggin' the hell out of me!" Cyborg exclaimed, trying to swat one. Raven simply pulled her cloak tighter to cover any exposed skin, with the exception of her face. Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at random sometimes to scare off the flies as they kept walking.

"Any idea of where we are going?" Raven asked after an hour passed since they started.

Cyborg wasn't really sure. "I'm not sure, but I think if we keep going in one direction, we should eventually get out of this place." the half robotic teen said, "And if I feel one more fly bite me... I'm... going... to... kill it!" Cyborg managed to squash a fly sitting on his forehead, even though he hit himself in the process. "Heh heh... sucker..." he muttered as they kept walking. Raven laughed at Cyborg's reaction, trying her best to keep her balance and avoiding falling into the water.

Not long after, the two Titans reached an island of some sort. The grass here was rather soggy from the moisture, but at least they didn't have to trudge through anymore water for a while.

It was starting to get dark, which made the two Titans worry. However, Raven spotted something in the distance. "Uh, Cy, do you see what I see?" the dark witch asked, stopping and pointing to some building past a few trees.

Cyborg rubbed his human eye to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Yeah, looks like a town! C'mon, maybe they'll help us out of this swamp." And with that, Cyborg and Raven ran over to the buildings.

Indeed, this was a town of some sort, more like a village. There were a few streets, though not too much. They were lined with some makeshift houses built from wood and leaves that stood about eight feet tall and twenty feet wide. A few street lamps, which were actually large torches, gave light to the village. There was a crude bench here and there, but no people were outside.

"Everyone's probably asleep, I hope." Raven said as Cyborg and she walked to the nearest house and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so they moved on to the next one. After the tenth house, Cyborg gave up.

"Dammit, there's no one here. It's like a ghost town or something," the half robotic teen said, slamming his fists into the ground.

"I wouldn't be so sure. Look, there is a path over there." Raven said in her monotone voice, once again noticing a path near the outskirts of the village. Cyborg cheered up slightly.

The half robotic teen took one last look at the village. He sighed and without anymore hesitation, Cyborg and Raven proceeded down the path. It led them through some thick vegetation, but luckily no water.

"Oh great, what is this path leading to anyway? I just hope it's not anymore swamp or I'm gonna freak out." Cyborg joked around after blasting some trees out of the way. Raven just rolled her eyes and guided the way through the now dark night.

Raven stopped walking and tried to make out the figures of a few trees up ahead. "Cyborg, try getting rid of those trees, I think we are at the end of the path." the dark witch said.

Cyborg nodded and fired his sonic cannon in the direction Raven was pointing to, causing many trees to fall to the ground. The blast from Cyborg's cannon set one of the large branches from a tree alight, creating a crude torch. "Nice thinking!" The half robotic teen said as he went to pick up the torch.

"I wasn't expecting that to happen, but oh well." Raven said with a chuckle. Cyborg set another branch alight and passed it to Raven. The two Titans proceeded down the path.

After blasting some more trees out of the way, the path finally opened up. "Wow, check this place out Rae!" Cyborg exclaimed as he ran ahead, Raven following close by, "It's like some palace or something."

The site was about the size of a small park. There was dark green grass covering the ground and thick trees lined the perimeter. There were a few small trees scattered throughout the site, but it was mostly just grass and some puddles of swamp water. Two dome shaped structures stood fifty feet apart, but their details could not be seen due to the night. Towards the center was a raised platform, about a foot high. It appeared to be made out of aquamarine colored stone with tiny, gold engravings scattered all over it.

Cyborg and Raven both walked on this platform, eager to find out what this place was. As they walked onto it, Raven noticed a thick five foot pillar protruding from the center. "Hmm, there's something written here, but it must be in another language or something." Raven said, examining a small tablet of writing that stood on this pillar.

Cyborg took a look, bringing his torch closer to it. "Neither can I. Looks Japanese, or maybe Greek. Still, beats me." the half robotic teen said, unable to decode the writing. "But look, there is a symbol engraved on the ground here." Cyborg said, pointing to a circular shape engraved on the platform's floor, two inches away from the pillar. It looked like a gold medal with a wavy line drawn through it.

"Any idea of what that might mean?" Raven asked, trying to figure out what this symbol stands for. Cyborg just shrugged.

"Sigh, I'm gonna check out those two dome shaped things over there." Cyborg said, taking his torch and hopping off the platform. Upon arriving at the structures, the half robotic teen placed his torch as close as he could to the structure to see every detail of it. Just like the platform he was standing on earlier, this structure was also made of the same stone. However, words in the same language as that of the tablet were etched into the surface of this dome in gold writing. As a matter of fact, every inch of the dome's surface was covered in writing!

'What does this stuff mean?' Cyborg thought, running some of the words through his scanner, but failing to get any results. 'Maybe it could be some ancient story...'

Raven walked over to Cyborg, unable to find any more interesting details about the tablet. "Find anything in those rock piles?" the dark witch asked in her usual monotone voice.

The half robotic teen let out another sigh. "Nope, just some more writing that I can't decipher."

The two Titans stood in silence for the next minute, unsure of what to do now. The night was getting even darker and yet they still didn't have any place to sleep. There were only trees and more water outside these grounds. If really necessary, they could spend the night here, but then they would be prone to attacks by the creatures that inhabited the swamp.

Finally, Raven broke the silence. "Well, there's really no point in hanging around here. Let's go; maybe we'll find somewhere else to spend the night."

Cyborg agreed and held his torch higher as the two Titans proceeded into the swampy woods.

Raven, who was in the lead, had no idea of where she was going. The dark witch constantly repeated, 'There is a way out of this swamp,' in her mind to keep her nerve. But as the two Titans trudged on, hope was diminishing. They've been in this swamp for almost an entire day and well into the night without food nor water. Their crude torches were finally starting to burn out; only a faint glow was emitting from them now.

By now, the lack of food was starting to take its toll on Raven. Cyborg was still able to manage even though he was rather drowsy. The two would gladly have just fallen asleep next to a tree but that was not an option anymore. The grassy path ended and the familiar sludgy water now filled the rest of the swamp.

"Oh great, back to the water again..." Cyborg muttered inaudibly.

Raven's vision was starting to worsen as she forced herself to keep walking. Her torch was just about to burn out as the flame died down to a very minute ember. However, there was another emotion starting to come over her: fear. They were in the middle of a swamp during the darkest night they ever experienced. Also the fact that they were wading through water that probably contained dangerous animals wasn't helping her morale either. Finally, unable to take anymore walking, Raven collapsed. Cyborg caught her right before she fell into the deeper water.

Cyborg held Raven in his arms, placing his torch in a nearby tree. "Raven! Wake up!" the half robotic teen said, gently shaking Raven awake. Breathing a sigh of relief, Cyborg asked, "What happened? Did something bite you or what?"

Raven yawned openly and said in a low voice, "No... I'm just tired, that's all." Cyborg understood and proceeded to hold her safely in his arms as he picked up his torch again.

"Don't worry, I'll try getting us out of here." Cyborg said, starting to walk through the swampy water once again.

He wasn't sure how far he managed to walk before he spotted a light not far from him. Cyborg silently prayed that it wasn't yet another abandoned town or something. Much to his joy, it turned out that the light belonged to a person.

"Hey, can you help me get out of here?!" Cyborg hollered to the person carrying the torch. At the sound of Cyborg's voice, the person quickly ran up to him. It turned out to be an elderly man wearing a brown cloak.

"Why hello! You must be Cyborg! And that is Raven, correct?" the elder asked, looking Cyborg in the eye.

The robotic teen was a little shocked. "Um, who are you and how do you know my name?" he asked, holding Raven tightly to keep her away from this man.

The elderly man chuckled. "I apologize for not introducing myself," the elder said, "I am Karthor, and I was sent by King Smilax of Emporia to find you. I have already managed to find two of your friends: Robin and Starfire. And rest assured, the king is awaiting your arrival. Come."

Cyborg followed Karthor hesitantly. "Um, who is this King Smilax and what is Emporia?" the half robotic teen asked as he followed Karthor through some crude paths made of sand and pebbles in the swamp.

"Emporia is a large civilization in the western portion of the World of Darkness. King Smilax..." Karthor was cut off by Cyborg.

"Hey wait up. So you are telling me that this is the World of Darkness?" Cyborg asked, a little bewildered.

Karthor nodded his head as he held his own torch higher to light the way. "Yes, you are correct. But believe me, everything will be explained after we meet the king. Hopefully you will stay for the night in his grand castle." the elder said with a wink.

Cyborg was overjoyed, but then again still rather confused. Why would some random king offer the Titans so much hospitality when he never even met them? Robin and Starfire were already safe at that Emporia place but what about Beastboy and Terra? Would they be able to survive the night? These and similar thoughts passed through Cyborg's mind as he followed Karthor across a bridge and finally out of the swamp.

"The swamp finally ends here. Now it's just a straight road to Emporia!" Karthor exclaimed, full of energy which was unlikely for a man his age.

Raven started to come about in Cyborg's arms. "What... what is going on?" the dark witch muttered, half asleep.

Karthor noticed her starting to wake up. "Don't worry; all will be well. Try to get some sleep, we'll be arriving at our destination shortly. You don't mind carrying her, do you?" the elder asked, looking at Cyborg.

"Nah it's fine. I'm just wondering how much longer it's going to take." the teen asked, holding Raven tightly as she drifted off to sleep again.

Karthor smiled as he pointed to something up ahead. "Sooner than you think. Look!"

Cyborg stared into the darkness of the night and indeed he could see many lights not far from here. There were a few towers with their windows alight which were behind a rather large wall as the half robotic teen viewed it. 'That must be Emporia...' he thought to himself.

"Wow..." Cyborg muttered in awe when the group finally arrived at the gigantic front wall that protected Emporia.

"Yes, impressive isn't it?" Karthor asked rhetorically as a guard opened the massive oak doors allowing them to pass. Cyborg could only manage to nod as he gazed at the city. Since it was near midnight, as Karthor told him, they needed to get to the castle quickly before King Smilax would start to be concerned.

After going down a few streets, they arrived at the castle's main entrance. The castle itself looked very majestic indeed, especially during this night when the many torches lining the exterior walls were alight, creating a sparkling effect in the clear moat.

A guard noticed Karthor and approached him. "So you finally found em, eh? Where did you have to look this time?" the guard asked the elder.

"Somewhere in the Swamp of Misery. Luckily the king informed me that two of them were there." Karthor relied.

This guard yelled a command to one of the other bridge guards. As on cue, the large drawbridge that was previously raised was lowered for Karthor and company to pass. The elder thanked the guard and proceeded across the drawbridge and into the castle itself, Cyborg following close by.

"I never knew this place would look so great. I only imaged the castle being small and plain, but never like this!" Cyborg commented, gazing at the many decorations that hung from the castle's hallway's as Karthor led him to King Smilax's chamber.

"Your friends, Robin and Starfire, felt exactly the same way when they first stepped foot in here," Karthor said, leading the way through several more resplendent hallways. "They are probably in their rooms sleeping by now." Karthor added before Cyborg could ask. At last, they reached two doors with guards standing near them "Ah, and here we are: the king's chamber!"

The guards on either side of the hallway leading into King Smilax's throne room pushed the twin doors open, letting Karthor and Cyborg pass. The half robotic teen was struck with amazement as he followed Karthor, still holding a sleeping Raven, down the violet carpet leading to King Smilax who stood beaming at the approaching party.

"Welcome, to Emporia! You must be Cyborg, and that is Raven I believe." King Smilax boomed with a cheerful tone. "I'm King Smilax, and you don't need to kneel down; it's fine." he added, making both Karthor and Cyborg jump up from their kneeling positions.

"Ah yeah. Well like you said, I'm Cyborg, pleased to meet ya." Cyborg said, shaking the king's hand. King Smilax was still wearing the same attire from when Robin and Starfire came in a few hours ago, not bothering to change knowing that Cyborg and Raven would arrive not much longer.

King Smilax put on a large grin. "Anyway, I see that your friend is practically asleep. I could show you your rooms right now if you wish."

Cyborg was rather happy to hear that. "Yeah, that would be great! But one question though: why are you doing this? I mean, I don't remember ever meeting you." the half robotic teen asked.

"It's true that I never met you, but believe me, I know much about you Titans!" the king said, "You see, I consulted with my wise mages shortly after a few villagers reported that a group of children landed in this world. We then concluded that they must be you guys: the Teen Titans."

The robotic teen was still perplexed. He yawned and was about to ask another question but King Smilax spoke first.

"I see that you are very tired. I will explain everything you need to know tomorrow after we find the remaining two Teen Titans. But like I said, that's for tomorrow and you'll need your energy," the king said with a bright grin, "My servants here will escort you to your respective rooms. If you wish, you could take Raven to her room." King Smilax added, looking at the sleeping Raven.

"I'd appreciate that, thanks!" and with that, two servants escorted Cyborg out of the king's chamber.

"It seems everything is going perfect," King Smilax said, his eyes flashing a tint of crimson for a split second before he shook his head quickly, "Anyway, I thank you Karthor once again. Is it alright if you go locate the other two Teen Titans first thing tomorrow?"

Karthor bowed. "I'd be honored." King Smilax thanked him again and signaled that he could leave.

------------------------------

(Elsewhere in the castle)

One servant opened a door leading into a small yet comfortable room in the castle. There stood a small bed, a closet, and a bookshelf full of various texts. Cyborg carefully placed Raven on her bed and whispered a quick "Good night!" to her. He closed the door after leaving her room, telling the servant that Raven was asleep.

"Now if you follow me, I shall lead you to your room," the servant said, walking down a hallway. He unlocked a door leading to a larger room. This room pretty much was a replica of Cyborg's real room at Titans Tower. "I think you'll feel right at home here." the servant said with a chuckle, closing the door after leaving.

Indeed, this room contained almost the same technology found at Titans Tower. Computer monitors were built into the walls that preformed various functions. Everything Cyborg needed was all in this room. It was actually very convenient!

"Damn, this room is just like mine back on Earth!" he whispered rather impressed, following his usual procedures before going to sleep. 'I just hope that Beastboy and Terra will be alright...' And with that, Cyborg laid down on a tilted platform specially designed for him and he shutdown for the night.

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And there is chapter 11. I hope you enjoyed it! And please review if you have the time! :D


	12. Reunited

Wow, it took me ages to write this chapter. Gee, thanks to school. ;( Well anyways, a big thanks to all of my reviewers! Enjoy. ;)

**D-I-WaRrIa**: Thanks! Yeah, I think I'm gonna make a sequel to this fic, hopefully. ;)

**legato 626**: Thanks for the complement! :D And yes, that was some foreshadowing. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

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Chapter 12: Reunited

By early morning, Robin was already wide awake. He didn't manage to get too much sleep last night considering the current situation. Starfire and he were already safe inside the castle, but what about everyone else? The Boy Wonder pushed these thoughts out of his mind for now.

He stretched out his arms and was about to walk out of the room when he heard a knock on his door. Robin immediately opened it, revealing a short servant who stood there.

"Sir Robin, breakfast is now being served down at the dining hall. Please follow me." the servant squeaked in an unusually high voice. Robin gladly followed him down several flights of stairs and through many hallways, eager to get some food into his stomach.

Upon arrival, he noticed that the dining hall was just as big as King Smilax's throne room. The hall was made completely of dark marble with large columns of granite going vertically into the high ceiling, on which many fine designs were painted on. In the center of the hall stood a few long oak tables covered in white tablecloth, which appeared to look as fine as silk. Buffet tables lined the perimeter of the hall, with many delicious foods of all varieties.

"Robin!" The Boy Wonder turned around to see Starfire waving to him from a table. The servant that led Robin here took his leave, bowing slightly.

Robin quickly ran up to her. "Hey Star! Did you sleep well?" Robin asked, looking at the amount of food that was piled on her dish.

"Yes, it was most pleasant," Starfire chirped, "The food here is delicious! Why don't you go try some?"

Robin stopped goggling at the food on Starfire's plate. "Glad to hear that. I'll be right back, this stuff looks good." And with that, Robin went off to the buffet tables.

From the opposite entrance of the dining hall, Cyborg and Raven both walked in, looking amazed at the hall's sheer size. They stood there for about a minute before Cyborg noticed Starfire feasting on some cherry colored jelly.

"Hey Rae, check it out! There's Starfire... and Robin's here too!" Cyborg voiced to the dark witch, who finally put on a grin. The two Titans ran over to the Tamaranian girl with lightning speed, never being happier to see her and Robin.

"Hey Star." Raven said in her monotone voice, but with some more energy this time. Starfire turned around and rejoiced at the sight of Cyborg and Raven.

"Friend Cyborg and friend Raven! You are unharmed!" Starfire boomed, squeezing Cyborg and Raven in her trademark "hug of death" as Robin called it.

Cyborg could barely breathe. "Uh... yeah I'm happy to see you too... now can you please put us down?" the robotic teen managed to say. Starfire let them go just as Robin returned with his breakfast.

"Hey Raven and Cyborg! I never knew you were here too!" the Boy Wonder said, greeting the two. "Say, are Beastboy and Terra here?"

Cyborg and Raven looked at each other and shrugged. "No, at least I don't think so." Raven said dully, slightly happy that Beastboy wasn't here cracking any jokes for once.

"Sadly, Beastboy and Terra aren't here, but they will be soon!" A familiar voiced boomed behind the four Titans. They turned around and saw King Smilax standing there. This time he was in silver torso armor and gray leg armor with brown boots. The king put on a cheery smile. "So, did you all have a good night?"

All the Titans gave positive comments. "Say, how did you know what kinda tech I needed? Cause when I went to my room, it looked almost exactly like my other one back on Earth!" Cyborg questioned.

King Smilax chuckled. "Ah yes. Believe me, Emporia is not _that_ outdated!" His words echoed off the walls of the dining hall as he spoke in a strong voice.

"Yeah, I guess I figured that out," Cyborg laughed along, "but my question is, how did youknow that I used that exact same tech?"

The king was stumped. "Hmm..." King Smilax stroked his chin as he spoke, "I have my ways of finding this sort of thing out." he finally said after a few seconds of thinking. Cyborg didn't want to pursue the subject and silenced himself. "Anyway, I know you are hungry, so I will let you eat in peace. Like I promised the day before, I am willing to discuss anything you may have on your mind as well as explain why I am doing all this. But that's after breakfast. I'll come back in an hour, dig in!" King Smilax said, giving an energetic wave and heading out of the dining hall.

"Um, okay. Well I dunno about ya'll, but I'm gonna get me some grub!" Cyborg said, zooming off to the buffet tables with Raven following.

Robin finally sat down next to Starfire, starting to eat his breakfast. "Star, do you ever get the feeling that King Smilax is trying to hide something?" the Boy Wonder questioned, starting on some bacon.

Starfire thought for a moment. "I don't believe I do. What makes you ask that?"

"Well the fact that's he's always in a hurry to answer our questions. But then again, he could be busy," Robin said, taking a sip of a cherry flavored juice.

"I still wonder how the King Smilax knew friend Cyborg's technology," Starfire commented.

Robin sighed. "I don't even know how he figured it out." He then continued to devour his breakfast.

"So what are ya'll talking about?" Cyborg asked as he brought a large plate stacked with all kinds of various food, which ranged from scrambled eggs to biscuits. Raven appeared several seconds later, carrying only a lone mug of hot tea. Both took their seats opposite to Robin and Starfire.

"Nothing really, but I have this feeling that King Smilax isn't telling us something." Robin said with suspicion.

Cyborg sighed and rolled his eyes. "Why the hell would you suspect him of anything? I mean, he is just being polite by offering us a place to stay," the robotic teen said, "But best of all: free food!" Cyborg started to stuff everything on his plate into his mouth.

Raven shifted away from disgust. "Do you _have_ to do that?" This only encouraged Cyborg.

The Titans carried on their casual conversation while eating the remainder of their breakfast. Karthor then descended the stairs that stood towards the far end of the immense dining hall.

"Hello Titans, how's your morning so far?" Karthor happily asked the Titans as he approached them. He carried a walking stick as well as a small brown bag of food. He now wore a long gray traveling cloak.

"Hey there Karthor. So far everything has been great," Robin welcomed the elder.

Raven took another sip of her tea and also greeted Karthor "Hello. And uh, why are you carrying that bag and stick with you?" the dark witch asked, pointing out the walking stick and bag.

"Well I'm going to round up the other two Titans," Karthor explained, "I guess they could use some food, too." The elder opened the bag he was carrying, revealing that it was full mostly of fruit-like comestibles and a couple of bottles of crystal clear water.

Starfire was simply filled with rapturousness after hearing the news. "Oh thank you so much friend Karthor!" the Tamaranian princess exclaimed, about to give Karthor another one of her backbreaking hugs. She probably would have squeezed the poor elder to death had not Cyborg, Raven, and Robin stopped her.

Karthor swung the bag of food over his shoulder and held the walking stick with his other hand. "Anyway, I have to depart now. Enjoy the rest of your breakfast!" Having said that, Karthor waved to the Titans and proceeded to walk out of the dining hall.

The Titans managed to calm down Starfire and returned to finishing up their morning meal.

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(Elsewhere in the World of Darkness)

Bright daylight filled the entrance to the small cave. Terra shifted around, opening her eyes to greet the new day. She rested her head on a sleeping Beastboy's chest and snuggled up to him, still wrapped in Beastboy's arms. Breathing a sigh of comfort, Terra gently placed her hand on the shape shifter's cheek and proceeded to soothingly stroke it.

The shape shifter finally opened his eyes to see Terra stilled wrapped in his arms, peacefully caressing his cheek. "Hey Terra, sleep well?" Beastboy whispered to the blonde teen.

"Morning sleepyhead," Terra whispered back, giggling somewhat, "Yes, I slept well, thanks to you!" The blonde teen curled up in his arms and once again laid her head on Beastboy's shoulder, closing her eyes dreamily.

Smiling, Beastboy placed a small kiss on her forehead and embraced her tightly. "I love you Terra." the shape shifter said softly.

Terra smiled and clung on tighter. "Love you too, BB" she whispered almost inaudibly. The two stayed embracing each other for a while before Beastboy heard footsteps outside the small cave.

He lifted his head and peered out of the cave to see someone approaching them. "Um Terra, you might want to see this." Beastboy said, gently shaking the blonde teen awake.

"Hmm, what is it?" Terra asked sleepily. Beastboy pointed to the figure of a rather small person nearing the cave. Terra instantly snapped out of her drowsiness and stood up along with Beastboy. Both cautiously walked to the exit of the cave, expecting trouble. Instead, the man that was heading in their direction waved his hand and voiced, "Hello over there!"

Beastboy and Terra looked confused. "Um, hi!" the blonde teen yelled back. The man picked up his pace and finally arrived in front of the two Titans.

"Good morning Titans, or should I say, good afternoon!" the rather elderly man said with a smile. The two Titans stood there, not really sure of what to say. "I'm Karthor, and I'm here from the city of Emporia."

"Emporia... hmm, never heard of it." Beastboy said blankly.

"You'll see. Now I assume that you two must be hungry, so here," Karthor opened his bag of food and handed each of the two Titans a round, green fruit. Beastboy hesitantly took a bite, expecting it to be poisonous, but instead discovered that it possessed a mouth-watering taste.

"Dude, this stuff is tastes great! What is it?" Beastboy commented. Terra had a similar reaction after taking a large bite of her fruit.

Karthor explained, "These are called Trianicberries, even though they aren't really berries. I think they are similar to pears that you have on Earth but with a much sweeter taste." The elder then rubbed his eyes and waited for the two to finish easting the remainder of the fruits. Both Terra and Beastboy managed to eat the entire bag in just under ten minutes, which really surprised Karthor. "Heh heh, I never knew you were _that_ hungry." the elder winked.

"So um, exactly why did you come to find us?" Beastboy asked, devouring the last Trianicberry.

"King Smilax, who is the ruler of Emporia, sent me to gather all of you Titans. So far I managed to find Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven, I believe," Karthor said, "Everyone is already at Emporia waiting for us."

Both Terra and Beastboy went wide-eyed with surprise. "You... you mean that you've found our friends?!" the shape shifter half exclaimed. Karthor put on a cheerful grin and nodded.

"I think that we are ready to return. So let's get a move on it!" Karthor proclaimed, happily swinging his walking stick. The two Titans gratefully followed. "Now you see, we are rather far from Emporia at this point," the elder said, leading Beastboy and Terra back to the main path that they were following the day before.

"How long do you with it will take to get there?" Terra asked, walking alongside Beastboy.

Karthor hummed for a moment, trying to get a close estimate. "It took me about two hours worth of walking to find you two. I'm thinking it will take one hour assuming we follow the direct path there."

Beastboy nodded, but then a question popped into his mind that he'd been dieing to ask. "Ey Karthor, I have to ask you something important," the shape shifter said coolly.

"And what might that be?" Karthor replied, hopping over a small stream that intersected the path, the two Titans following suit.

"Ok, when Terra and I were on that mountain," Beastboy continued, "we tried to use our powers, but nothing happened! Terra tried summoning a rock and I tried morphing; nothing worked."

The elder thought for a moment. "That mountain that you were on is cursed. As a matter of fact, this entire world is pretty much under one gigantic curse!" Karthor explained, which shocked the two teens. "Once we get back to Emporia, King Smilax will hopefully tell you exactly what's going on. But trust me: you will get your powers back."

Beastboy and Terra exchanged a glance at each other with unsure expressions on their faces. Trying to lighten the mood up, Karthor started a casual conversation that carried on throughout the entire trip. Finally, the enormous front wall, built in between the two mountains surrounding Emporia, appeared in the distance.

"Ah, I believe we have finally reached our destination!" Karthor exclaimed, picking up the pace. Beastboy and Terra had to almost run to keep up with Karthor as he took rather long strides.

"Dude, how can you move that fast?!" Beastboy exclaimed while trying to keep up with the speedy elder. Karthor just briefly slowed down and gave the shape shifter a wink, and once again picking up the pace.

At long last, the party stood in the shadow of the front wall, one of the guards opening the twin oak doors to allow the group to enter. Karthor led the two amazed Titans through the now busy streets of Emporia, staying close together as to not get separated.

"Wow, this place is huge!" Beastboy commented, glancing around as he walked behind Karthor.

"Heh, just wait till you see the castle!" Karthor replied, following a street that led to the grand castle of King Smilax, forcing his way through large crowds of people.

The group approached the closed drawbridge of the castle. "Good day Karthor. So finally you found all those Titans, correct?" the gate guard asked Karthor in a rhetoric tone as he approached the party.

Karthor flashed a grin. "Yup, hopefully King Smilax will be happy now." the elder winked as the guard lowered the drawbridge. "Alrighty, come on; we're just about there." the elder said, crossing over the bridge. Beastboy and Terra, just as all their friends before them, were awestruck at the castle at first glance. Both were speechless as Karthor navigated though the various hallways full of rich decorations to King Smilax's throne room. "And here we are." Karthor stated as two guards opened the familiar oak doors leading to the throne room.

"Unbelievable..." Was all Terra managed to say after seeing the interior of the king's chamber. Karthor chuckled and nodded. Before anyone could do anything else, King Smilax nimbly hopped off his throne and ran over to meet the them, his face as cheerful as ever.

"Hello, hello Titans, I'm King Smilax! And I'm glad that all six of you are now reunited!" King Smilax boomed with his powerful yet friendly voice. Beastboy and Terra didn't expect this and were a little taken back at first.

"Um, hi!" Beastboy finally spoke up, shaking the king's hand, Terra following suit.

"Pleased to meet you," Terra said with a grin, "But, where are the rest of our friends?"

The beaming king snapped his fingers, signaling the two to follow him as he proceeded to a staircase located in the far end of the throne room. Beastboy and Terra followed him without hesitation.

King Smilax stopped before a closed door as he reached the end of the staircase. Waiting for Beastboy and Terra, the king put on a hopeful grin and opened the door. As the two teenagers walked into the spacious dining hall, they noticed the rest of the Titans sitting at a long table engaged in casual conversation.

Starfire, observant as always, was the first to notice her lost friends appear in the hall. "Beastboy! Terra! You are safe!" the Tamaranian exclaimed at the top of her voice, forcing the Titans sitting near her to cover their ears. Before Beastboy or Terra could say anything, they found themselves being squeezed to death by one of Starfire's strangely powerful embraces. The other Titans didn't bother stopping her as they too rushed over to greet the remaining Titans.

"Well we sure made them happy," Karthor said with a light laugh as he descended the stairs and stood next to King Smilax, watching the Titans celebrate.

The king could only smile, even though he did that mostly all the time now. "Yes, but do you believe that they will be able to break the curse over this world?" he asked with uncertainty.

Karthor nodded his head with a confident expression. "Of course they will! But the better question is: will they accept?"

King Smilax thought for a moment. "That depends on them, but I agree with you. Anyway, we have to explain the entire situation first. I think now is the time." The two men ended their little side conversation and both approached the now calm Titans.

"I suppose that you would now like for Karthor and me to explain what is exactly going on," King Smilax announced to the Titans, who all nodded in agreement, "Ok then! So take a seat and let's get this show on the road." King Smilax made a motion to one of the guards that now stood next to the main entrance of the dining hall. The guard blew a whistle and about twelve other guards entered the hall. They closed all doors and patrolled the exteriors, making sure no unauthorized person would suddenly barge into the hall and interrupt the King. The Titans were all rather impressed at the organization and swift actions.

"Now that no one can get in here, Karthor will start off by giving you some background info." King Smilax said, the Titans each taking a seat in the nearby table.

The elder stood in front of the Titans and began his lengthy speech. "Ok, I'm sure that you already know that you are in a planet that's over millions of light years away from Earth." Karthor spoke clearly, trying to make sure the Titans would understand whatever he told them, "And with that, I would like to point out that the World of Darkness is cursed. Everything is dieing or already dead. The trees, the grass, the birds, everything. But it wasn't always like this!"

King Smilax now picked up from where Karthor left off. "You see, the World of Darkness wasn't really all that bad at one time. Heh, it was actually the most serene planet in the cosmos!" the king continued, "The original name was the Serenia, and it was quite appropriate. There was no crime nor violence here. The plants were green and the waters were crystal clear, good enough to drink from without fear of getting ill. Do all of you remember seeing that huge pyramid somewhere in the World of Darkness?" King Smilax put on a serious face as he asked that question.

"Yeah, I think all of us as least noticed it. But what does that have to do with anything?" Raven spoke up, not understanding what purpose that pyramid served.

Karthor now continued, "Don't worry, we'll get to that. Anyway, everything was perfect, flawless as a matter of fact." the elder said, his voice suddenly dropping lower as he spoke, "But on that one day, one thousand years ago, everything changed. You see, a man with the powers to control fire arrived in Serenia. He was an excellent warrior who came seeking more power. The king of Emporia during that time refused to aid the man, sensing something evil about him, and the consequences were dramatic."

"That man must have been insane," King Smilax spoke, "He built up a large army of all the evil creatures that inhabited the caves deep below the surface of Serenia. With that army, he conquered Emporia without a problem. He killed everyone he saw in the town: men, women, children; everyone. He killed every person by decapitation and threw their headless bodies into the streets. And then, to finish off his raid, he set the town ablaze and let it burn to the ground."

After hearing King Smilax's part of the explanation, the Titans were sitting wide-eyed, too shocked to speak. The king decided to continue.

"But some of the people in Emporia took a risk and ran away, hiding somewhere in the hills," the king said, "The man and his army ravaged Serenia and destroyed every living person and creature. Now to make sure Serenia would never return to its former glory, the man used his powerful magic to drain the life out of the world. His evil influenced everything that once lived, including the people. He took all the drained life and somehow concentrated it into an orb and hid it inside that pyramid that you all saw."

Karthor now spoke up, "The man pretty much converted Serenia to the World of Darkness. He sealed off the pyramid with a special kind of magic that's impenetrable. Now to make sure no mage would break the seal, he created barriers in the seven temples scattered throughout Serenia. Each temple has a barrier point located somewhere inside it that fuels the seal protecting the pyramid. But as an extra form of protection, the man placed a fearsome monster inside each temple to guard the barrier point. If the seven barrier points could somehow be destroyed, then the seal on the pyramid would collapse, freeing the life back into the world."

"And that's why we need you Titans to help us free that life power," King Smilax put on a grin as he spoke hopefully, "To free the world from that man's power. And that horrid man, the one that did all this, goes by the name of Lord Firesprite."

"Firesprite?!" Robin exclaimed, "So I was right after all... Well no matter what, we'll help you out!" All the Titans willingly agreed, making the king and Karthor both utterly delighted.

After some more thought, an idea struck Robin, "I also have a plan: if you could send us back to Earth, we could gather more of our friends, like Aqualad, and help you free your world."

"Yeah, that would be awesome!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"Nice thinking dude!" Beastboy commented.

"Way to go, Robin!" Starfire chirped, hugging the Boy Wonder.

"Awesome!" Terra shouted.

"Um, good job?" Raven muttered.

King Smilax and Karthor looked at each other uneasily. "Well, there is one problem with your plan, Robin." Karthor spoke with a low voice, "And that problem is... that, well... there is no way for you Titans to return to Earth at this point. It's... impossible."

"What?!" the Titans yelled out in unison.

(To be continued...)

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Ok, that chapter ending really was crappy. ;) Anyways, please review if you have a moment to spare! Please? :D Next chapter coming soon.


	13. The Dream

Finally finished this chapter. I was occupied with a ton of programming projects lately so I didn't have much time to write, and school wasn't helping me too much either. ;) Anyways, thanks to all my reviewers, enjoy!

**D-I-WaRrIa**: Yeah, that was kinda evil, but I needed to move the plot along, sorry. xD Anyways, remember that idea you suggested to me when you reviewed an earlier chapter? Well, I finally was able to implement it into the story! :D Thanks for reviewing, and for that idea. ;)

**legato 626**: I have some plans for the king, but that's later on. ;) Anyways, thanks for reviewing!

**Hyper Chick**: Thanks! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

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Chapter 13: The Dream

King Smilax and Karthor put on sorrowful faces after hearing the Titans shout out in disbelief.

Cyborg piped up, voicing his concern, "But we have to return home! I mean, Firesprite could be running amok right now destroying Jump City!" All of the Titans suddenly realized that Lord Firesprite was still back on Earth and in possession of the Illusion Stone.

"Are you serious dude?" Beastboy questioned with slight hope, "Is there any other way to get us back right now?"

Karthor shook his head sadly, "No, there is no way we can immediately return you home."

Robin sighed as he rubbed his forehead, "So all the work we did to save Jump City from Firesprite was useless..."

"Karthor did mention that it is impossible to return you to Earth at this moment," King Smilax said, "but there is one way, and it is very difficult."

"And what would that be?" Robin interrogated with renewed faith.

King Smilax put on one of his trademark grins, "Allow me to explain." Everyone paid close attention as the king started to talk. "Remember those barriers in the seven temples? Well, once they are broken and we gain access into the pyramid, there is a portal inside that leads directly to Lord Firesprite's base back on Earth."

"You see," Karthor now spoke, "after Lord Firesprite conquered Serenia and changed it to the World of Darkness, he linked Earth and this planet through a portal. And that portal is concealed inside the pyramid. So in other words, your planet and our planet are connected."

"So this is why you asked for our help to break the barriers and free the life power, right?" Terra asked Karthor.

The elder happily nodded, "That's exactly why! So you see, this will benefit both sides."

The Titans understood Karthor's logic. Destroying the barriers and freeing the long lost energy back into the World of Darkness would restore the planet to its former glory. In turn, the Titans would be able to safely return back to Jump City without any problems.

Raven still looked slightly concerned, "Sounds good, but I'm still worried about Jump City right now. Firesprite probably leveled the place completely." A bottle of juice that stood on the table burst with dark energy, signaling Raven's hatred towards Lord Firesprite. Cyborg placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, trying to calm Raven down.

"Um, there is another piece of information that we conveniently forgot to mention, "Karthor said innocently.

"Well, it can't be any worse than not being able to stop Firesprite anytime soon," Cyborg stated with a grin.

King Smilax decided to take it from here, "It could be," the king went on, "What you must understand is that time flows differently here than it does on Earth. For every hour you spend here, a day has passed on Earth. So by now, I can estimate that about, uh, thirty to forty days have passed on Earth." The king looked a little depressed at that thought.

"Oh that's just great; more pressure..." Robin growled.

Starfire tried to comfort a very ticked off Boy Wonder, "Don't worry Robin, we shall save our home just like we always did!" Robin couldn't help but smile at Starfire's glowing face.

"Thanks Star, I guess I'm just overreacting again," Robin said, giving Starfire a quick embrace.

"So anyway, when do we start going after these barrier things?" Terra asked, thinking about the adventure they were about to depart on.

King Smilax and Karthor smiled. "Anytime you want," the king enunciated with energy, " but I recommend departing tomorrow considering the amount of time that passes back on Earth."

"Alright then, sounds good to us!" Robin proclaimed, the Titans agreeing.

Karthor clapped. "Excellent! Feel free to spend the rest of your day enjoying yourselves," the elder proclaimed, "Tomorrow we will prepare." With that, the Titans concluded their conversations and went their separate ways in pairs.

The king simply stood there smiling like he always did. "Looks like everything's turning out great!"

"Yes, looks that way exactly," Karthor added with glee, watching the Titans leave through the massive dining hall doors.

"You couldn't be more correct," the king went on, "I bet Acr... I mean, _the people_ are going to be very happy after this curse is lifted.." Small beads of sweat were visible on the king's forehead. Karthor gave him a weird look, but shook it off.

"Anyway," Karthor spoke as though he didn't notice the king's suspicious behavior, "we have to get some supplies for them ready by tomorrow morning. Come now."

Karthor proceeded up a nearby staircase. "Yeah... let's do that..." King Smilax muttered to himself, relaxing a bit and promptly following the elder.

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(Elsewhere in Emporia)

"Aww come on BB! Let's just have a look over there!" Terra was dragging an unwilling Beastboy around town to every store possible. Though they had no money, Terra apparently found it necessary to see what people here were selling.

Beastboy put on a gloomy face. "But _why_ are you doing this? We can't afford anything anyway!" The changling protested.

Terra insisted, "Today's our only day to relax and then we have to go away again breaking those barriers."

Beastboy reluctantly agreed, seeing the irresistible face Terra put on. "Pff, you call this relaxing?" The blonde simply rolled her eyes and continued browsing each shop.

Eventually, after many more visits to random shops scattered all over the large town, dusk was beginning to fall. Terra finally gave in and decided to call it a day much to Beastboy's happiness.

"See, now wasn't that fun?" Terra asked the shape shifter, walking down the same street that they originally followed to reach the castle. Beastboy just emitted a groan of complaint, dragging his feet as he forced himself to walk, clearly exhausted. "Hey, wait up a second. Look at this." The blond pointed to an official poster that hung apparently from a police building. Both Titans took a closer look to inspect it.

Beastboy finally came to his senses as he saw the person depicted in the monochromatic photo that was covering most of this poster. "You know, I could have swore that I've seen this dude somewhere before." The shape shifter said. Terra agreed.

"Actually, he does kinda look like..." the blond started.

"Firesprite!" Beastboy finished. True, the man shown in the picture looked identical to Lord Firesprite, with a few minor differences. Since there was no color, the Titans couldn't be sure, but the man did possess many of the same physical traits as Lord Firesprite. The details weren't clear from this aged picture, but indeed the body of this man looked similar.

"You know, it could be just one big coincidence..." Terra pointed out.

Beastboy shrugged it off, "Yeah it could, but then again it probably isn't. Whatever, that Firesprite dude is far away from here, and I think we should get back; it's getting pitch black out here again." The shape shifter and Terra started once again for the castle, but they did not notice that they were being watched.

A pair of dangerous, blood red eyes shone from the nearby alley, covered in the shadows. The figure cloaked by the black velvet night didn't utter a word, but its eyes just followed the two Titans until they were out of view.

The figure finally muttered to himself, "We'll just see soon enough..."

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(Back at the castle)

Robin and Starfire just returned from their exploration of the town. Like Terra, Starfire also forced Robin into examining every store, but not as often though.

"I really enjoyed venturing though the many stores, it reminds me of the mall of shopping back on Earth," Starfire said with a chirp.

Robin smiled, though he was tired, "Glad you enjoyed yourself, but please let's not do that again." The Tamaranian princess giggled and embraced the Boy Wonder, who returned it with pleasure.

"I am sorry if I bored you," Starfire spoke with a hint of sarcasm. Chuckling, Robin leaned over and planted a small kiss on Starfire's cheek. This made both Titans just stand there and blush like mad.

"It's no problem, Star!" Robin finally replied after snapping back to reality. Starfire grinned and rested her head on Robin's shoulder as the two proceeded walking about the castle with no particular destination in mind. "Hey Star, do you remember when dinner is served?" the Boy Wonder asked, caressing Starfire's hand as he held it.

The Tamaranian thought for a moment, "I believe we still have an hour." Robin nodded and softly stroked her hair. They drifted through random hallways, not really knowing, nor caring, where they led, but simply enjoying each other's presence. After awhile, it was almost time to return to the dining hall where this evening's dinner was to be served.

The two passed a wooden door that was slightly ajar, stopping abruptly when they heard King Smilax's voice. He was conversing in a rather serious tone, almost as though he was afraid.

Starfire nudged Robin, "Um, Robin? I don't believe we should be eavesdropping on friend King Smilax's conversation."

Robin shook himself mentally, "Yeah I guess. I just have a strange feeling that he's up to something, probably because I'm just damn tired." The two start walking again but came to a halt after hearing an unfortunately familiar second voice.

"I mean it Smilax; don't you even dream of messing this up. If you do, then you will suffer the consequences, double time," the second voice replied, almost threating, "Now get out of my face before I slice you into pieces!"

Robin and Starfire took that as their cue to leave before King Smilax would appear in the hallway. They immediately continued down the hall, passing a large portrait of the king himself. As they passed, the eyes of the king in the portrait lit up in an eerie, neon red glow, watching the two Titans.

A low, hoarse voice was emitted from the portrait, "You better run; just like all the others..." Its eyes then returned to their original selves.

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(Up in one of the castle's towers)

"Azerath metrion zinthos... azerath metrion zinthos..." Raven was calmly meditating at the top of one of the castle's tallest turrets, looking over at the magnificent view it provided through the window. The setting sun behind the large mountains far away, the same that Beastboy and Terra were on, transformed the sky into a barrage of splendid reds, oranges, and purples, as well as casting a dim, golden light across the landscape.

"Hey Rae?" Cyborg walked into the circular tower through a door behind Raven.

The dark sorceress flinched, annoyed that he had disturbed her daily meditation. "What is it?"

"I just came to tell ya that dinner is gonna be done soon." the robotic teen said, "Wanna come?" Cyborg smiled innocently.

Raven thought for a moment, "Maybe. I'm almost finished for today anyway." And with that, the dark witch continued meditating, chanting the same phrase over and over again. Cyborg decided to wait and looked out the window at the magnificent view it provided. After a short time, Raven appeared to stop meditating.

"Alright, enough for now." Raven spoke in her monotone voice. "Are you coming or what? Cyborg? Hello... Cyborg?" She snapped her fingers a few times, making Cyborg spring awake as he seemed to have dozed off.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure." Cyborg said, slightly embarrassed. Raven chuckled ever so slightly and the two of them proceeded through the door. Just as they closed the old wooden door, a figure materialized in the tower.

"A sorceress and a metal man... this is going to be way too easy..." The figure softly laughed, staring at the closed door that Cyborg and Raven exited just a few seconds a go. Turning around and facing the window, the figure's red eyes stared out across the landscape. "I'm beginning to think that this task will be finished sooner than your think, my brother..." With that, the figure glowed briefly in purple energy and vanished.

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(Somewhere in the castle)

Cyborg and Raven were walking through the many elegant hallways in silence.

"So uh Rae... have you been in there meditating all day long?" Cyborg questioned, trying to break the silence.

Raven just looked straight ahead, "Yup. Why are you asking? I do this everyday at Titans Tower."

The metallic teen shrugged, not really sure. "Uh, well I know that, but you never meditate all day! I'm just worried about you..." Cyborg trailed off.

The dark sorceress glanced at Cyborg, a tiny smile on her lips. "Don't worry, I'm fine." Though her voice seemed uncaring, Raven actually acknowledged Cyborg's hospitality. "Well anyway, there's the dining hall." The two Titans entered the massive hall for the second time that day, taking a seat next to each other on one of the now silver cloth covered tables.

Not much longer, Robin and Starfire walked through the main entrance, heading to where Cyborg and Raven were seated. "Hey Cyborg, hey Raven," Robin greeted, "Anything interesting?"

Cyborg shook his head. "Nah, I was in my room trying to get a signal back to our tower. No luck, I can't even get in contact with anyone back there."

"Friend Raven," Starfire started, "You must come with me next time Robin and I go to town! It is simply splendid!"

Raven wasn't interested. "No thanks, I have to meditate anyway." The dark witch went back to drinking her warm mug of herbal tea she picked up from the partially full buffet tables. Starfire was slightly disappointed but bounced back with a smile. Just then, both Beastboy and Terra appeared at the same doors that Robin and Starfire walked through just a few minutes ago. Finding the rest of the team already assembled, the two rushed over to them.

"Oh hey Beastboy and Terra!" Robin welcomed them as they both sat down.

"Hey guys. BB and I had a great time!" Terra commented, scooting closer to the shape shifter as he put an arm around her.

Dinner was still ten minutes away, so the Titans engaged in conversation. Robin was eager to reveal what he and Starfire discovered when King Smilax was talking with some unknown person earlier this day.

"I swear that's the last time I'm ever eating another one of Starfire's food." Cyborg was retelling the Titans about his past experiences with the various Tamaranian foods Starfire cooked.

Starfire countered, "But you even said it tasted wonderfully at first!" Everyone was amused, except Robin who still couldn't stop suspecting the king.

"Uh, Titans?" Robin interjected, getting everyone's attention, "Ok, this is kinda serious, so try to listen." Sensing the Boy Wonder had something important to say, the team quieted down and listened. "Earlier today, Starfire and I were walking around the castle and we kinda overheard King Smilax talking to someone who sounded a lot like Firesprite."

"Uh dude, Firesprite is all the way back on Earth," Beastboy interrupted.

"Yeah, I know that," Robin replied, "but I'm not saying that it was Firesprite."

Raven stopped drinking her tea for a moment. "Why were you even spying on him in the first place?"

Robin was stumped. "I don't know. It's just that from the moment I met him, I sensed that there was something going on."

"Ok, so the guy is weird, but what the hell would make ya think that he is trying to kill us or something? I mean, he's just being friendly..." Cyborg countered.

The Boy Wonder was starting to get frustrated from the lack of support. "Well whatever, but that still doesn't explain why the king was talking like he was scared to that other guy."

"Can we talk about this later? Look, the food's out already." Terra said, trying to calm the tensions and looking over at the newly prepared food placed on the buffet tables.

"Sigh, I guess I just need to get some sleep," Robin said, giving up at trying to persuade the others and going over to the buffet tables lined with various dishes.

"Man, what's gotta into 'em?" Cyborg muttered to Beastboy as they too joined Robin. The shape shifter just shrugged.

Dinner was eaten mostly in silence with the exception of a few side conversations. Robin didn't want to bring up King Smilax again so he resorted to chatting with Starfire. After the Titans had their share of food, they all went off to their own rooms to hopefully get some sleep before starting for the first temple tomorrow morning.

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(Robin's castle room)

'I know that King Smilax was being friendly, but why won't they just trust me? Whatever, we'll deal with it after breaking the curse...' The Boy Wonder thought as he climbed into bed. He pulled his sheets securely over and promptly drifted off to sleep, not bothering to extinguish the lit candle on his bedside table.

(A/N: Thanks to D-I-WaRrIa for suggesting the idea of the following! :D)

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'Where, where am I?' Robin thought. He was walking through a hallway, but it wasn't in the castle, or at least he thought so. Instead of the common gray stonewalls that defined every hallway in King Smilax's castle, the walls of the hallways here were made of some smooth, goldenrod stone. Small wall torches faintly lit the way as the Boy Wonder progressed, not sure of where he was going or where he even was. After another minute of walking, the hallway opened up to an indescribably gigantic room. It must have been at least five times bigger than King Smilax's throne room!

This room was circular and had a high dome ceiling. Everything was gleaming gold, helped by a few light green statues holding flaming torches that let off a soothing, crackling sound as they burned next to the walls. In the center, there was a huge hole, and Robin slowly crept over to examine it. Rectangular pillars lined the edge of the hole, spaced about twenty feet apart from each other.

Peering down, Robin noticed that a blinding aurora was being emitted from where ever this hole led to. A faint beam of yellow light was streaming upward from the hole and ending at the top of the dome ceiling. Robin wondered what purpose this place served, but was answered by approaching footsteps from the same hallway as he came in. He quickly hid behind one of the many porcelain statues, not sure if these people were foes or friends.

Three men came into the room, one was tall and apparently muscular. The second looked familiar, as he was rather on the tall side and made heavy, metallic thumping sounds as he walked. Finally, the third man was of average height and appeared to be holding someone as he followed the other men to the edge of the hole.

As they came into light, Robin could easily make out their details. The first tall man was wearing what appeared to be heavy armor. His large, adamant body armor was colored a very soft forest green. His leg armor contained sharp spikes at various points and also possessed the same color as his body armor. His boots were black and he wore thick, brown gloves. In addition, he was wearing a greenish helmet that covered his entire head with thin spikes going down the center. Robin failed to see his face since this man's back was to Robin.

The second figure Robin easily identified as no one other than Breaker, nothing different about him. But what really shocked Robin was that the third man appeared to be... King Smilax! He wore the same outfit as when he first met the Titans; golden armor protecting his entire body. He was indeed holding someone, but Robin couldn't figure out who.

"You have done well, Smilax." The first figure spoke as he looked down the hole, pulling out a long, sharp sword from his side. The sound of it being unsheathed echoed off the walls of the room, creating a tense atmosphere.

"It was my pleasure," King Smilax spoke almost overjoyed, "Now what shall I do with her?" The king pointed to the female person he was holding.

Breaker spoke up, "Kill her; she is useless. And it will cause the Titans much pain to see a friend die."

"Shall I, Acrimon?" King Smilax turned and faced the first man seeking permission, who apparently must be called Acrimon.

Robin whispered to himself as he watched the events unfold before him, 'Could that be the person the king was talking to?'

Acrimon turned just slightly to face King Smilax. "By all means get rid of her. Here, throw her down the hole. She will be painfully disintegrated upon reaching the bottom."

King Smilax nodded and held the girl up by her throat over the pit. She started to scream, and Robin immediately recognized her to be Starfire. "Farewell..." King Smilax let go of his grip on Starfire's throat, and she began to fall, screaming.

"Starfire!" Robin hollered as he stood up from his hiding place, extending his hand as to tell King Smilax not to drop the Tamaranian princess, but it was too late.

"What the..." Acrimon nimbly turned around and fired a dark purple spell without a second thought directly at Robin.

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"Ahhh!" Robin snapped awake and sat up from the horror, breathing heavily. He took a moment to relax, his breath slowing down. 'Oh man... It was just a nightmare, probably just too much food.' Robin thought, wiping the cold sweat off his forehead.

Indeed it was a nightmare, but it felt almost real. He actually felt a slight pain as the spell fired by that guy, Acrimon was his name, collided and woke him up. Robin started to worry about Starfire, but reassured himself that he'd visit her first thing in the morning. As for now, the Boy Wonder tried to fall back asleep, almost unsuccessfully.

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Sorry for the long wait once again, hope that chapter made up for it. ;) Please review if you have some time! :D


	14. Another Adventure

Woot, another update! Anyways, sorry for keeping you waiting; my laptop's hard drive was fried so I lost all my work, including this chapter which I could have posted a bunch of days earlier had it not. ;( But I got it fixed so I finally can start writing once again. Enjoy!

**D-I-WaRrIa**: Thanks! :D Can't wait for you to update your stories as well. This cheered me up from my cruddy mood I was in all day. :) Thanks again!

**Legato 626**: Take your time when writing your story; don't rush. :) And thanks for reviewing!

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

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Chapter 14: Another Adventure

Dawn came quickly the next day. Robin, weakly getting out of his bed, decided to pay Starfire a visit and make sure she was fine, considering that haunting dream he had. That was pretty much the only thing keeping Robin tense. He had a bad feeling about this whole adventure for reasons he couldn't figure out, which was odd for the Boy Wonder who usually enjoyed these kinds of journeys. Then again, the fate of Earth rested upon these six teenagers; not exactly something pleasant to think about.

Robin rubbed his eyes and proceeded out the door. The hallways were silent; no activity was present except for the occasional servant passing by. Trying to be as quiet as possible as to avoid waking anyone up, Robin trekked through the hallways, arriving at Starfire's door. He carefully pushed it open and stepped inside, immediately noticing that Starfire was peacefully asleep. With a smile, Robin slowly approached the foot of her bed.

"Love you, Star..." The Boy Wonder whispered, slowly stroking her hair as she slept. Seeing that Starfire was all but in danger, Robin was calmed down significantly. If King Smilax or whoever intended to harm Starfire indeed tried to, regardless of what happened in the dream, Robin promised that he'd do whatever it takes to avoid that.

"Robin...?" The Boy Wonder, a bit startled, looked down and noticed that Starfire was awake.

"Oh hey Star. Uh, sorry for waking you." Robin said with embarrassment, "If you want, I could leave now..."

Starfire instantly sat up, "No no, it's ok! I was hoping not to oversleep anyway." The Tamaranian said with a wide smile. Robin returned the smile, failing to take notice that his hand was still caressing her hair. Starfire closed her eyes slightly, enjoying the moment.

"So, uh, ready to start that new adventure today?" Robin asked, trying to break the silence. He wanted to tell her about the dream he had last night, but was hesitant. It probably would be better if he didn't worry her with such things right after she woke up, so Robin decided to hold off on the topic.

The Tamaranian teen nodded her head, placing a hand over Robin's. "Oh yes, it will be most exciting!"

Robin smiled and reluctantly removed his hand from Starfire's forehead. "Well, I guess I better get going. I bet everyone's already eating breakfast. Meet you there." The Boy Wonder leaned down and planted a small kiss on her cheek.

Starfire beamed and sprang out of her bed, renewed with her usual energy. Robin grinned and walked out the door, but not before giving Starfire one more quick kiss on the cheek which caused the two to blush deeply.

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(At the dining hall)

"Morning, Titans!" Robin gave a cheery welcome as he as entered the dining hall and walked over to where the other Titans were sitting.

Cyborg emitted a loud yawn, "Uh yeah, morning..." He looked as though he hadn't gotten enough sleep. As a matter of fact, all of the Titans there were drowsy. Beastboy was eating some toast with his eyes half closed. Terra was resting her head on his shoulder, apparently asleep. Even Raven was dozing off as she tried to meditate.

"Um, why are you all sleepy?" The Boy Wonder questioned.

Beastboy spoke up, barely, "We stood up till like dawn... playing video games in Cyborg's room."

"How the hell did you bring your video games along if..." Robin started.

"He didn't... Looks like King Smilax wasn't lying... this place is more advanced then ya'll think..." Cyborg interrupted, trying his best to stay awake.

Robin didn't feel like pursuing the subject and went off to grab some quick food off the newly prepared buffet tables. Moments later, Starfire skipped into the hall, energetic as expected.

"Friends! I believe you are all ready to depart on our new journey, yes?" Starfire chirped as she approached the drowsy Titans. She was answered by irritated voices as the Titans wanted nothing but sleep. Just as Robin returned to the table, both King Smilax and Karthor appeared from a nearby door. Noticing the Titans already up, the two beamed and hurried over.

"Well, today's the day!" Karthor exclaimed, but then noticed the slumberous teens. "Say, you don't look very excited. Had a hard time sleeping?"

"Nah, more like video games all night," Robin said with a laugh.

"Ah I see," Karthor responded, pulling a flask of liquid out of his cloak and dangling it in front of the group, "Here, this will wake you up." The sleepy Titans reluctantly poured some of the liquid into cups are drank it. Much to their surprise, they woke up instantly.

"Dude, this stuff is awesome!" Beastboy commented with full energy.

King Smilax laughed, "Sure beats that coffee you have on Earth doesn't it? Anyways, now that you are all alive and well, we might as well get ready for your departure. Give me one second." The King snapped his fingers and a group of three guards carrying various items entered through the main entrance and approached the Titans.

"Here are two bags of food, which should last you for about a fortnight," Karthor said as he handed a pair of rather light twin brown sacks. "A clean river will run along the path you are going to take, meaning water is of no problem. Of course, you'll need this map." The elder passed Robin an old piece of rolled up parchment.

King Smilax clapped his hands once and thought for a moment. "I guess that's everything you'll need. The first temple is marked off on the map and the quickest path is also noted. It should take you a few days at most to break the barrier there, which is at the Jungle Temple."

"The strongest creatures you will see are only some wolves that can be scared off by fire. Once inside the Jungle Temple, try heading towards the center since that's where the barrier is rumored to be." Karthor explained.

Raven interrupted, "Uh, how can we help if our powers don't work except for Robin and Cyborg's?"

"Ah yes! I almost forgot!" King Smilax piped up, slapping himself in the process. "Here, these should bypass the curse and allow you to use your powers, but they will be limited however." The King handed Raven, Starfire, Terra, and Beastboy some amulets. The amulets were simply a small emerald jewel was attached to a thin but durable gold string. The Titans put the trinkets around their necks as the king instructed.

Karthor continued, "With these, your powers shall work in a limited manner as King Smilax said. Raven and Starfire, you will be able to use your normal attacks, but you will be unable to fly. Terra, you will be able to summon boulders as usual, but you can't control the earth completely such as forming spikes out of rocky walls. And finally, Beastboy your powers are functional as usual, but you can't morph into very large animals such as some dinosaurs and elephants."

"Can I still change into a giant gorilla?" Beastboy asked with hope.

Karthor shook his head, "Not a giant gorilla, but an normal sized gorilla should be fine."

"Well, better than nothing at least," the shape shifter shrugged.

"So you all now understand what you are able to do and what you aren't?" King Smilax summarized.

"Yeah, but like BB said, it's better than not having any powers at all," Terra said, renewed with confidence.

"So it's settled! And remember, after you destroy the barrier at the Jungle Temple, come back here to rest and restock. Good luck Titans, and thanks a bundle!" King Smilax boomed in his powerful voice.

Karthor escorted the Titans to the gates of Emporia. "Well, good luck! To get you started, the Temple should be somewhere in that direction." The elder pointed southwest, indicating a dirt path that followed that direction along a fresh stream of water. "It should take you about a few hours to get there by foot, and make sure to stay near that stream over there. Follow the same path back here on your return journey."

"Can we expect any hostile creatures or other dangerous stuff along the way?" Cyborg asked the elder.

"Not that I know of. But once you get inside the jungle, look out for black vipers, forest boars, and any other large animal. If you don't disturb them, they shouldn't attack you." Karthor explained, "Any other concerns?"

The Titans shook their heads. "I guess that's all." Robin commented.

"Alright then, good luck Titans! We won't forget what you are doing for us!" Karthor acknowledged and waved his hand, walking back through the familiar gates.

"Remind me again why we are going through this," Raven said dully as the Titans began on their way.

Robin said, "Because we need to. Sure it doesn't affect Earth itself, but we need to get back home, too. By breaking the barriers, we help the people here and we can return back to Earth through the portal in the pyramid, like Karthor and the King explained to us."

Raven rolled her eyes, "This is going to take a loooong while..."

------------------------

(Back at the castle)

King Smilax was standing inside the tallest tower of his castle, watching the Titans walk down the path Karthor pointed out earlier. 'Maybe they'll succeed, just maybe. This is one of the easiest temples, but I can feel that they'll be struggling. No matter.'

"Uh, King Smilax?" Karthor entered the tower from the door behind the King.

"What, oh yes. What do you need?" King Smilax was caught off-guard by Karthor's unexpected intrusion.

The elder sighed. "Are you sure they are prepared for such a task? I mean, they don't even know which creatures are dangerous and which aren't. I pointed some out, but the majority I left out. And if they do reach the barrier, they still have to get rid of that creature that protects it."

"You've got to have more faith in them," King Smilax said, contradicting his previous thoughts, "Sure it's tough, but they can handle it."

Karthor still looked slightly guilty, "You're right, but I just feel like we could have prepared them more."

King Smilax shook his head and sighed. "How about this: take the rest of the day to relax yourself; you looked way too stressed out. Take a nap or something, and try to not think about it. Believe me, it helps." Karthor agreed and thanked him, proceeding back out the door. The King smiled and turned around to face the window once again, deep in thought.

-----------------

The Titans were nearing the jungle that Karthor mentioned before. Not too far now; just about another half hour. Having been walking all this time without much rest, Robin decided to take a break.

"Alright Titans, time for a quick rest," Robin said, examining his map, "We are making great progress so far. I think that we should be able to reach the temple just before sunset, and we can camp out over there. Tomorrow morning we'll try to get rid of that barrier inside."

"Uh dude, there is no way I'm sleeping in the middle of a jungle, especially since there are things in it that want to bite my head off!" Beastboy complained as he washed his face in the stream.

Cyborg sighed, "That's why we'll have someone to stay guard. I say ya'll should switch every 2 hours or so."

After another five minutes, the Titans (reluctantly) pack up and continued back down the path. Eventually, a jungle appeared in view, it's dense flora growing all over the place. Though the afternoon sun was present, dark clouds hung low over this wilderness, choking off any possible light. The thick, almost tropical, leaves of the trees contained a misty shade of mint green. The trees themselves towered high above the ground, possibly more than twenty feet!

"Well, this looks like the jungle, unfortunately," Terra commented as the group reached its perimeter.

Robin checked his map once more just to be sure. "Hmm, looks like it. Once we enter, stay close together because the path blends in with the plants, which makes it hard to find. I'll lead the way, just don't get separated."

And so the group of teens carefully proceeded into the mess of vegetation. Like expected, light was scarce inside. The vast canopy of leaves shielded any remaining light that managed to pass through the clouds. The brown dirt path sliced its way through the overgrowth, though hard to see due to the lack of light. Thick branches criss-crossed over the path, forming almost like a tunnel around it. Various sounds could be easily heard, though it was almost impossible for the Titans to identify which animal made them. The air was moist with the elevated humidity, making breathing rather difficult, but bearable for now.

Cyborg turned on one of his lights on his sonic cannon while Starfire, using the limited magic she had, caused her hand to glow with deep emerald light. Visibility was increased, though only slightly.

"Like I said, stay close together," Robin announced from up ahead, "Getting lost here would be a pain..." Starfire immediately took hold on Robin's hand as Terra held onto Beastboy's arm. Cyborg and Raven edged closer to each other as well as the Titans began to make their way through the jungle.

"Robin, how much farther away is this Jungle Temple?" Starfire asked after an hour of constant walking, which felt more like a day or two.

The Boy Wonder wasn't too sure, "Dunno, I can't figure out since this map doesn't show any distance, but I think it will take us another hour."

"Too bad most of our powers are dumped," Beastboy sighed, "We could have got there like 60x faster."

"Yeah, but at least we can enjoy the great nature here!" Terra joked, causing the entire group, which the exception of Raven, to laugh and lifting Beastboy's mood. The changeling hugged her tightly in return for a few seconds before the teens began moving again.

It wasn't long before the Titans reached an aged, wooden bridge. The floorboards were rotting and the small stonewalls on either side of the bridge were chipped and cracked. A swampy stream passed underneath with alien fish bolting through the water at amazing speeds every so often.

"Almost there according to the map," Robin announced, looking ahead, "The good news is that it's mostly a straight path to the temple now."

Raven muttered sarcastically in monotone, "You call that good news?"

"Uh, yeah I guess," Robin replied, unsure of what Raven was trying to say.

"In case you didn't notice, it's getting lighter," the dark witch pointed out. Indeed, the darkness that once was so dominant was giving way. True, visibility remained rather low even with the assistance of Cyborg and Starfire, but nonetheless this was a good sign as Robin now stated.

The Titans crossed the bridge, slowly to make sure it wouldn't collapse, and continued to follow the path on the other side. The darkness dissipated almost completely as the teens moved further into the jungle, enough for Cyborg and Starfire to stop emitting light. The dirt path now became an old, gray stone pathway that stood out easily from the rest of the wild jungle. It didn't take long from here until the Titans reached an opening in the trees.

"Wow... now this is what I call ancient!" Cyborg commented at the sight before him.

That was indeed an understatement. The Titans now stood in a spacious circular, unmaintained courtyard. In the center stood an unused fountain; the water inside it was slimy and green. There were some patches of grass scattered all over the place. The sunlight easily reached this place through a large break in the dark clouds above. The same stone pathway that led the Titans into the courtyard now was lining the perimeter of the fountain and led forward beyond it, where the Jungle Temple stood in all its glory.

The Jungle Temple was an enormous building made of some creamy colored stone. The building stretched sideways at an unidentifiable length as trees at the perimeter of the courtyard denied any further view. It was about thirty stories high and contained open windows in various places. Vines ran the height of some of the walls and certain stones were cracked from age. A musty smell hung in the air, adding to the atmosphere.

A pair of identical statues stood on either side of the entrance. The statues were of Lord Firesprite himself standing at average height and smiling viciously. A large flight of stairs led to the actual entrance of the temple which was elevated about ten feet. All in all, the temple was probably sacred to the people that inhabited Serenia before Lord Firesprite destroyed it.

"Man, I never expected the temple to be like this," Cyborg added further.

Robin took a few minutes to analyze it. "Definitely worth taking a picture of it if we had a camera," the Boy Wonder joked around. The rest of the group was still awestruck at the sight of this place.

"Heh, even I think it looks decent," Raven said, surprising the rest of the Titans with her unexpected compliment.

"Anyways, sunset is in a few minutes, so we better get ready for the night," Robin continued, noticing the light from the sun was starting to get scarce again as the piece of visible sky above turned a pleasant tint of evening gold.

"I'm really gonna sleep great tonight out in the fresh air," Cyborg said, "but only if BB doesn't start snoring again."

"Hey, I don't snore!" Beastboy yelled back as he was bringing in some branches for a fire.

The robotic teen snickered, "Just playing, just playing..." He went ahead and made a campfire from the branches. The Titans finally went ahead and settled in for the night. Cyborg walked over to the side of the temple and leaned back against the wall, shutting down as Raven sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. Beastboy cuddled Terra close as she placed her head on his chest, stroking the shape shifter's cheek.

Robin and Starfire, however, were still up sitting next to the campfire. The Boy Wonder wanted to talk to Starfire about the dream he had, but was hesitating nervously.

"Robin? Is something wrong?" Starfire questioned, noticing the look on Robin's face.

"Nothing, but I was meaning to talk to you about something," the Boy Wonder said. Starfire leaned closer to hear what Robin had to say. "Sigh, ok. Last night, I had a weird dream, and it wasn't just any dream. I was standing inside some kind of room with a huge hole in the middle where energy or something was floating from. Then three people came in, King Smilax, Breaker, and some other guy named Acrimon. The worst thing is that King Smilax was holding you over the pit and... and he threw you in... That... that's when I woke up."

The Tamaranian princess was speechless for a few moments. "It could have been just a nightmare. You... you don't think that will happen, do you?" Starfire was rather scared and allowed Robin to embrace her.

"Even if it does, I won't let him kill you Star," Robin reassured her as he ran his fingers through her soft hair. Starfire whispered a "thank you" and snuggled up, wrapped warmly in Robin's protective arms.

'Don't worry Star... I promise I'll never let anything happen to you... ever...' Robin thought as slowly closed his eyes, falling asleep with Starfire already sleeping in his arms.

... Later that night...

A figure appeared slowly from the brush directly opposite to the sleeping Titans. Ever so slowly, he walked over to them, eyes alight with crimson. "And here are our six heroes... defenseless and weak. Hell if I wanted to, I'd slaughter you all now... but I'll spare all of you for now, but just for now..." The figure said in a cool voice, quietly walking over to where Beastboy and Terra were sleeping.

"You two will be the first," the figure whispered to himself, looking downwards to see Beastboy stroking Terra's hair tenderly while he slept, arms wrapped tightly around her body. "Yes, and I'll make sure of it..."

The figure vaporized in a cloud of purple sparks, leaving the Titans undisturbed.

--------------

And there you have it. :) Once again, sorry for the really long wait. One more thing, I know I'm kinda late at saying this but anyways: Merry Christmas! :D Also, please review if you have the time!


	15. Into the Jungle Temple

Ok, sorry for taking so long to get this chapter up. I was pretty much down with the flu all month, so I couldn't really write a lot. Anyways, sorry again, but now at least I should be able to write the next chapters faster. :P Like always, thanks to all my reviewers!

**D-I-WaRrIa**: Once again, great idea! I will add it into the story a little later on since I think it will work quite nicely. :) Thanks for the review, and please update your stories again soon cause they are great:D

**Legato 626**: Thanks for the review man. :) You're fic is awesome; I can't wait for the update. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

-

Chapter 15: Into the Jungle Temple

"Alright Titans, wake up!" Robin yelled early next morning to the group of sleeping teenagers.

"Dude, gimme me a few more minutes," Beastboy complained, hugging a dozing Terra tighter. Cyborg, who was already awake, sighed and walked over to Beastboy and Terra, picking them both up and shaking the two awake.

"Ok ok, I'm not sleeping anymore..." Terra voiced, yawning heavily after being put down.

Robin cleared his throat, "So today we're tackling the Jungle Temple. Now listen closely, the temple is huge from what King Smilax told me, so we have to stay close together. We may have to split up at some point, but don't count on it."

"And our communicators don't work, so keep that in mind ya'll," Cyborg added, checking his sonic cannon.

"Let's not waste anymore time and get this over with," Raven muttered as the teens climbed the worn stone steps to the entrance of the Jungle Temple. The Titans arrived in a narrow hallway, dimly lit by small wall torches after proceeding through the open temple entrance. Thin vines hung all over the walls and ceiling, casting crooked shadows in the torches' lights. A faint smell of trees hung in the air along with a pleasant breeze flowing from the entrance.

"Hmm, by the looks of this, I don't think there are gonna be any nasty creatures in here at all," Cyborg commented, walking down the hallway. The Titans reached a wooden door, and Robin wasted no time in opening it. A spacious chamber now met the teenagers as they walked in.

This circular chamber had a high, dome ceiling made of glass tinted green. There were four doors, each facing one of the cardinal directions. A few stairs led to each door from the lowered floor in the center of the chamber. In the center, on the low floor, stood two, six foot, golden torches each alight with a powerful green flame. In between the two was a rectangular platform magicked to hover about a foot off the ground, surrounded by an emerald aura. Dark red carpeting lined all of the floor space, and additional light was provided by a few torches that hung on either side of each of the four doors.

More vines were present, crawling up and down the walls and growing unmanaged over the dome ceiling. In the air floated tiny specks of sparkling particles, each emitting a soft color at random. All in all, the place looked undisturbed for years, though how the torches were still alight puzzled the Titans.

"Yo, this place is..." Cyborg began.

"Absolutely beautiful!" Starfire finished, her eyes sparkling in delight trying to take in as much of the view as possible.

Robin followed the stairs directly in front of him down to the torches in the center, trying to get a better view. Instead, he proceeded to examine the floating platform. "Any idea of what this does?" The Boy Wonder questioned, unable to figure out the purpose of the platform.

"Maybe it's just there to make this room look cooler," Beastboy suggested.

Shaking his head, Robin went ahead to try to step onto the magicked staging.

Right before Robin could hop on, a calm voice filled the room. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you..."

The Titans took their stances, expecting the worst. "Who said that! Show yourself!" Robin called out, looking in various directions, but failing to find the being that the voice belonged to.

The being spoke again, "Relax, I mean no harm. In fact, I'm here to help you." At that moment, a short, bald man walked through the directly opposite to the Titans. The man stood at about five and a half feet and wore a ragged brown robe. One of his eyes was large and attentive, the other was small and beady. His skin was wrinkled, mainly because of time, and he limped as he walked.

"Please, who are you?" Starfire questioned, calming down.

The pale man slowly but surely approached the group. "My short name is Alex, so you may call me by that. Like I said before, I can help you break the barrier."

"I really don't think we should just, you know, go ahead and trust you," Beastboy spoke up, "No offense, but I just can't help thinking that you're planning a trap or something." The rest of the Titans seemed to agree with the shape shifter on that point.

Alex tried to defend himself, "I can assure you that my intentions are good! Why else would I spend almost my entire life here waiting for someone to break the barrier?"

"You spent your _entire_ life here?" Terra asked, amazed.

"Well, yes," Alex replied, "Anyway, I know this temple and almost every passage in it. So, will you accept my offer?"

The Titans took a minute to discuss this, and they all agreed that there was really nothing to lose. "Ok then, I guess we can trust you. So, what do we do?" Robin said.

"Excellent! So this is what you have to do first. That platform is actually an elevator that leads to the temple's second basement where the barrier is supposed to be. The only way to remove the magic protecting it is to activate three switches. There are three available doors, as you see. Each one leads to one of the three switches. Once all of them are activated, the elevator will be usable once again and you will be able to find the barrier." Alex explained, rather pleased of his efforts.

"This doesn't sound too bad," Cyborg said, "If we all split up and take on each switch, then this will be a piece of cake."

"Sounds good to me," Robin said, "Thanks Alex for your help, we really appreciate it."

The pale man smiled, though weakly, "Not a problem. Anyway, I will be outside for the remainder of the day, good luck." And with that, Alex left the temple through the same door that the Titans came through.

"Well then, so let's get started," the Boy Wonder said, "Cyborg and Raven, you take the door on the east. Beastboy and Terra, take that door towards the north. Starfire and I will take the western door. After you activate the switch, meet back here. Everyone got it?" The Titans all nodded in understanding and each pair proceeded towards their assigned door.

-

(Robin and Starfire)

"You know, this place isn't half as bad as I thought it would be," Robin said as he and Starfire walked down a long and winding corridor. The soft light from the many torches mounted on the walls actually made a pleasant atmosphere.

"I agree," Starfire said, looking around, "Maybe we won't have to fight any..."

"Star! Watch out!" Robin dove and was able to move the Tamaranian princess out of the way from an incoming creature. "What is that?" Robin helped Starfire up while looking at the thing that almost collided with her. The creature looked like an overgrown spider, it's eight legs where colored a venomous green. However, the trait that really made it stand out was that it had a old, decaying skull, about the size of basketball, for a body.

"I don't believe this kind of animal exists on Earth," Starfire pointed out, the two teens backing away from the approaching spider.

"Ah come on," the Boy Wonder said, still moving away, "I know it looks weird, but it can't be that strong..." At that moment, the spider type creature hissed and started running full speed at the two unsuspecting Titans.

"Never mind, run like mad!" Robin and Starfire both started sprinting away in the opposite direction. The spider, though it had no visible eyes, was able to stay in hot pursuit. Much to the teens' relief, the end of the corridor was in sight along with another door.

Robin and Starfire dashed a bit faster and outran the spider for a moment, enabling them to quickly barge through the door, shutting it tightly behind. "Ok, that's the last time I'm underestimating a spider." Robin sighed, causing Starfire to giggle.

The two ended up in a small room with a staircase going down right in front of them. Instead of the cream colored stone, the walls were now made of a cold gray brick. The torches were replaced by metal lanterns hanging from the ceiling, limiting light slightly and creating the feel of a dungeon from a horror movie.

"Oh great, looks like we got the basement..." Robin muttered, starting to descend the worn stairs.

"Fear not, Robin," Starfire chirped, "the switch cannot be much farther away."

"Yeah I guess... wait up!" Robin stopped abruptly, starting down the dark staircase for any signs of movement. "I could have sworn that I've seen something move. And Starifre, don't worry, I'll protect you." The Boy Wonder said, feeling something touch his shoulder, assuming it was Starfire.

However, the Tamaranian teen was standing farther away from him. "Um, Star, are you touching my shoulder?" Starfire shook her head, and Robin gulped as he realized that the hand resting on his left shoulder had long, brown, bark-like fingers, much unlike Starfire's. The two slowly spun around, and were faced with an unpleasant sight.

A tall, very slim creature was standing right above the two. It looked pretty much like a walking tree, except that it had no leaves and was not nearly as tall. It's many roots served as legs, squirming around like tentacles. Two larger branches were used as its arms, packed with razor sharp fingers. A pair of hollowed out holes near the top of the body were alight with a small flame each, which Robin assumed to be its eyes.

Without sparing anymore time, the tree creature emitted a load roar, and swung its hand right across Robin's cheek, carving 5 shallow cuts in his skin. The Boy Wonder recoiled in pain, but secretly threw a few explosive disks at the creature that bombed the creature.

"Run!" Robin hollered as he took off down the rest of the stairs, almost jumping down.

"Robin, are you alright!" Starfire yelled as the two were sprinting through the rather dark basement, alight with only a handful of torches. A few pillars, placed in various locations, connected the ceiling and floor. The ceiling was only six feet above the ground, which aided in providing a feeling of claustrophobia.

"I'm fine! Just keep moving!" the Boy Wonder yelled back, the two continuing their random dash, unsure if the tree creature was chasing them or not. However, judging by the familiar roars heard every so often, the two Titans assumed that the creature had not given up and was still after them.

-

(Beastboy and Terra)

"Dude, how long is this staircase?" Beastboy asked impatiently as he and Terra kept climbing flights after flights of stairs. Having been assigned the northern door, which turned out to lead to the upper floors of the temple, the two had to had assumed that getting their switch would be the hardest.

"No idea," Terra simply answered, exhausted herself. Finally, after yet another bunch of stairs (much to Beastboy's complaining), the two teens apparently reached the end of the constant stairs, being faced with a door.

To this sight, the shape shifter jumped into the air and did a motion. "Finally! Now let's get this over with." Beastboy reached for the door handle, but just as he was about to touch it, the door burst open, revealing an obnoxiously large spider on the other end. It had about twenty beady red eyes staring right at a shocked Beastboy and Terra, along with a bulky, black body. Not only was it nasty as is, but it also had a long black tail extending from its back, much like an enlarged scorpion tail, complete with a deadly stinger.

Beastboy assumed a position to shield Terra from this... thing. "I say we attack it," the shape shifter commentated, "One the count of three: one, two, and..." Timing was obviously not on the Titans' side as just before Beastboy could finish the countdown, the spider leaped into the air, its stinger aimed directly at the shape shifter's heart.

"Beastboy, watch out!" Terra shouted, managing to push herself along with the shape shifter out of the way of the stinger. The spider had lodged its stinger in the ground from the force of the impact, and was temporarily disabled. The Titans saw this as a great opportunity and decided to take advantage of it.

Terra summoned a few rocks and quickly yet skillfully shaped them into sharp dagger like points. Beastboy morphed into a crocodile and stood waiting. Meanwhile, Terra aimed and launched the newly fabricated rocks at the spider, their sharp points piercing its body in several locations. The shape shifter now waged his attack, charging and literally tearing the stunned spider to bits with his deadly teeth.

"That went well," Terra said, taking a breather as Beastboy returned to his human form.

"Um, Terra?" Beasboy acquired the blonde's attention as they started walking into the new hallway.

"Hmm?"

"I wanna thank you for saving me back there," Beastboy said, a red blush creeping up his face.

"No problem, BB," Terra replied happily, hugging him for a few moments before letting go and proceeding down the hallway, Beastboy rejuvenated with life once again.

It wasn't too long until the hallway opened up into a much larger one. This hallway was about as wide as a basketball court and had a high ceiling supported by tall pillars that occupied the perimeter. A few marble statues that depicted knights stood in between the pillars, spaced about fifty feet apart. A red carpet lined the center of the hallway, stretching all the way to the other end. Four large, rectangular stone posts, each measuring seven feet in width and ten feet in height, were placed in the corners with a bright torch alight in every one of them.

The two Titans were rather amazed by the beauty of the place. "Dude, if this place wasn't overrun by wild things trying to bite my head off, I would actually wanna live here." Beastboy joked around, the two continuing down the hallway.

"Apart from that weird spider," Terra commented, "I doubt we'll see anymore mutated... things." Just as the two reached the center of the hallway, a loud rumble was heard and twenty steel bars aligned in a grid dropped down from the ceiling, blocking off the entrance from which they originally came through. The same applied for the other end of the hallway.

"You know," Beastboy said in a rush, "just when you think you've got this temple down, something always has to screw it up..." The two teens moved closer together, prepared for anything.

The statues that were sitting alongside the walls suddenly glowed green and started morphing into real beings. The torches that lighted the room now emitted a deep red color, casting a tint of crimson throughout the hallway. Out of the ten glowing statues stepped out knights in full armor. They held a large shield and sword, their shining, metallic armor colored black. The swords were eleven feet long with razor sharp edges. Shields were just about fifteen feet in length and five feet wide, protecting the knights' bodies completely. The knights' heads were covered by a full steel helmet, their faces cloaked by its shadow.

The entire assembly of knights aligned themselves in a perfectly straight row and raised the swords with their right hands. Without another moment to waste, the warriors yelled out a battle cry and started charging at the two Titans.

"Um, I think this is gonna be harder than we thought," Terra said as she and Beastboy took their own stances, ready for the attack.

-

(Cyborg and Raven)

As soon as Cyborg and Raven entered their assigned door, a pitch black hallway greeted them on the other side.

"Aw great, time to waste more battery power," Cyborg grumbled as he turned on a light from his mechanical body.

"Can't be any worse than what the others are going through," Raven countered, the two making their way down the dim corridor. Every so often a noise could be heard, undoubtedly from an inhabitant of the temple, which would cause the two teens to quicken their pace.

Just as both Titans thought that this darkness was never going to end, they were surprised to see that they reached the end of the hallway. Before them, however, stood a door with chains all over it.

"Looks like someone doesn't want us going in there," Cyborg commented, "No prob, we'll fix that in a minute." Raven gave the half robotic teen a confused look. "I'll just blast it down!" He added, seeing the dark witch's confusion.

Raven sighed, "We'll probably tear down this whole place just to flip a switch..."

Chuckling slightly at Raven's comment, Cyborg aimed his now loaded sonic cannon at the door, firing a blast that torn it down without a problem. "Told ya..." Smiling, the robotic teen proceeded in. Raven rolled her eyes and slowly made her way into the room until she heard Cyborg call out, "Yo Rae, take a look at this place!"

"What is it?" Raven asked, rushing inside to see what happened. She was, however, amazed rather than worried when she realized what Cyborg was talking about. The two teens apparently walked into some kind of **huge** greenhouse, except with a more natural theme. This room as like a forest inside a building. It was rectangular in shape, acquiring the size of a football field, if not bigger. Cyborg and Raven were standing on a fifty foot tall, elevated ledge from where they came in, facing the scenery before them. In the middle of the room stood a huge tree that went all the way up through the high roof. It's trunk was colored a deep brown, its bark reflecting the steady passage of time. The canopy of the tree was filled with thick, dark green leaves. Dense shrubbery and forest life filled the areas surrounding it, almost like a pool. A pair of parallel ledges went around the perimeter of the room level to the current ledge the Titans were on, providing a means of movement to the other side. Random sounds of fauna could be heard easily, and the constant buzz of insects was plentiful.

"I'm probably just imagining this, aren't I?" Cyborg questioned, trying to absorb as much as possible into his mind.

"Looks pretty real to me," Raven said, getting over the excitement, "Let's just get to the other side and finish off this temple." The dark witch started making her way across the ledge on the left side of the room with Cyborg in pursuit.

It took awhile, but they eventually reached the other side and were met with yet another locked door. "I'll take care of this," Cyborg said, stopping Raven from disposing of the door herself. The robotic teen powered up his cannon and was about to fire but was hit by something on the side of his head. "Yo, what the..." Cyborg turned around and was once again faced with danger.

It appeared that he was struck by a large, green vine. However, this vine was connected to the large tree that stood in the middle of the room. As a matter of fact, there were a ton of vines already alive and swinging randomly from the tree's canopy. In a scope of seconds, the bark of the tree twisted and turned itself, starting to form a face. Indeed, two large, circular holes that were presumably the eyes hollowed themselves out from the bark. A large gash of the bark reconstructed itself to form a twisted mouth that was apparently smiling a very wicked smile. The eyes now remodeled themselves into a pair of isosceles triangles pointing inwards. The tree, now flowing with life, turned its attention to the two astonished teens. Emitting a piercing roar, it commanded its vines to attack.

"Oh great, this can't be good..." Raven muttered, bracing herself for the incoming attack.

-

(Robin and Starfire)

After a few more explosive disks and Starbolts, the tree creature that was chasing Robin and Starfire finally decided enough was enough. Trying one last futile attempt to attack the two, the creature launched itself like a spear at the two, trying to pierce either one. However, Robin was too quick for it and threw a Birdarang with his usual excellent precision, slicing the creature in two.

"Glad that's over with," Robin said, watching the tree creature fall to the floor as two harmless pieces of wood.

"Surely there can't be anymore of these, can there?" Starfire asked.

The Boy Wonder was unsure, saying, "There's a pretty good chance that there will be more, but they can't get any worse than this. Come on, let's find that switch." Starfire was reassured and gladly followed Robin through the dark basement.

At long last, the darkness was cast away, though slightly, by a pair of unusually large torches. In between them stood yet another door, but with a different texture. Unlike all the other common wooden doors the Titans have become accustomed to, this one was of peppermint colored steel with all kinds of engravings all over its face. Robin and Starfire looked at each of for a second and shrugged, pushing the door open and proceeding inside. They were met with a small room on the other side. Lit by four torches in the four corners, visibility wouldn't be a problem here. Green carpeting filled this room, but the article most noteworthy stood in the center. It was a glass orb positioned on top of a five foot pillar made of solid gold. The orb itself was filled with misty emerald gases that swirled inside.

"Um, I guess this is the switch that we're supposed to activate," Robin said, unsure of what to do next since there was no on/off button or the sort on the orb pillar.

Starfire took a turn at examining it. "Might I propose that we simply hit the orb?" She asked as though it was common sense.

"Hitting the orb won't really..." Robin was cut off as Starfire powered up a weak Starbolt and threw it directly at the orb. Instead of shattering as expected, the orb started to glow a very bright emerald color, signaling that it was indeed activated. "Wow, how did you know?" Robin was clearly amazed.

Starfire replied, "These kinds of switches were once very common on Tamaran, but they were eventually replaced." The Boy Wonder took a second to thank Starfire by a tight hug.

"Well, no point in sticking around here anymore," was all that Robin needed to say before the two left the room. To their surprise, the remainder of the basement hallways were lit by the same color of light as the orb emitted helped along by the many miniature orbs hanging from the walls. Just as the Titans set off to return to the upper floor, a loud, yet soft rumble echoed through the basement. Robin and Starfire stopped their trek and looked around. Out of seemingly nowhere, about a thousand smaller tree-like creatures filled the floors. These creatures were just like the mad tree creature the two Titans faced when they first entered the basement, but much smaller and thinner. Another group of a thousand creatures filled the remainder of the floor behind Robin and Starfire, boxing them into a wall. The tree creatures squeaked a fairly weak battle cry and threw themselves at the two Titans.

To fend off the first wave temporarily, Robin threw a barrage of Birdarangs, slicing through each creature with force. "Star, these guys are way too weak, but there are tons of them," Robin said in a rush, "Try to get rid of groups of them instead of each individual one." Starfire understood Robin's instructions and powered up a few Starbolts, throwing them all in a cluster that upon collision whipped out a minimum of twenty of these tree creatures.

Instead of just launching themselves, the creatures now started shooting what appeared to be spiky little seeds at Robin and Starfire, backing away slightly. The seeds, though rather small, were surprisingly painful to the touch. The two Titans were caught off-guard and started to get pelted by the seeds, receiving a few small scratches from the spikes of the seeds. Robin threw a few explosive disks, though without much precision since he was already busy trying to shield himself. Starfire, on the other hand, was dealing quite well, using her Starbolts to block the seeds. Seeing that Robin was struggling, Starfire instead dropped her defenses and powered up a large cluster of energy, releasing it on the miniature tree creatures. Her efforts were successful in the sense the she managed to kill half of the remaining creatures, and frightening the rest.

Robin quickly thanked Starfire and threw a few more explosive disks from his arsenal, eliminating any tree creatures that were still alive and too paralyzed to move, making an easy target. "Phew, guess that's all of them," Robin said, taking a look around to avoid any more surprises.

"So we are victorious!" Starfire chirped.

Robin took a deep breath to relax, "We start getting back to the main room now, maybe the rest of the Titans are already done." The Boy Wonder said, starting for the exit with Starfire in pursuit.

-

(Beastboy and Terra)

The first knight to reach Beastboy and Terra was the one in the center of the row, apparently the leader. The knight brought his already raised sword down with tremendous force. The two Titans immediately split in opposite directions; Beastboy going left and Terra jumping away to the right. Upon impact, the sword caused a large crack to form in the stone on floor, showing just how powerful it was.

Now that the two teens were in separate corners, half the knights went after each. Beastboy just stood up and was already faced with another sword coming towards him, swung by a knight that stood a few inches of where he was. The shape shifter, keeping his limitations in mind, quickly morphed into a hummingbird and flew upwards. The knight that attacked him now was standing right below the shape shifter. Noticing his chance, Beastboy changed into a gorilla in midair, landing powerfully on the knight's head which under the pressure of the impact and Beastboy's new form, crumbled into a million pieces. The body, now left headless, also joined its head on the floor, destroyed in stone. "One down, four to go," Beastboy muttered to himself, preparing to fight the upcoming two.

While Beastboy was dealing with his batch of knights, Terra was taking on the five attacking her. However, these knights tried a different technique. Instead of just randomly attacking, they instead formed a circle around Terra. Out of the circle stepped one knight who would be attacking. The others would prevent the teen from escaping. Not wanting to waste any time, Terra quickly summoned a few rocks and stacked them one on top of the other in midair. Just before the knight could strike, the blonde teen commanded the rocks to drop with full force on the knight's head. The knight brought his sword up, ready to crush Terra, but the group of rocks collided right into his head and shoulders, crushing him instead. His arms dropped to the floor as the the rocks tore through his shoulders, also managing to decapitate him. Without a moment longer, the knight fell to the ground, no longer able to fight.

The shape shifter was not dealing too well with the two knights now attacking him. Beastboy was forced to morph into a rat to avoid the knights' swords and was weaving right through their blows. After a few minutes of this, fatigue was starting to take over Beastboy. After dodging yet another blow, the shape shifter got an idea. He morphed into a canary and flew upward, landing on one of the two knights' heads. The second knight lifted his sword and brought it down on the first knight's head, Beastboy flying away just before the sword made contact. His plan worked like a charm: the second knight, instead of hitting Beastboy, hit the first knight head on, tearing him in two. Unsure as to what just happened, the second knight froze in confusion, giving Beastboy just enough time to morph into an alligator and tear the paralyzed foe into pieces. With three knights gone, only two remained.

Terra was now fighting her second knight, but the battle was taking much longer than she wanted it to. This knight was apparently smarter than the other, using his shield much more often to block her attacks. For each swing of the knight's sword, Terra was forced to sacrifice one of her summoned rocks that she planned on using to attack, which made the fight last a long time. Finally deciding enough was enough, Terra dropped her defense for a moment and summoned a particularly spiky rock. She waited for the knight to raise his sword, aiming for his wrist. Soon enough, the warrior lifted his sword, ready to strike, but before he could do anything, Terra threw the spiny rock right at his exposed wrist, knocking the sword out of the knight's now damaged hand. The knight was now left defenseless for a split second as he tried to sooth his aching wrist. Terra summoned four rocks and sculpted them into daggers, throwing them right into the knight's throat from the four cardinal directions. The rocks went right through the knight's neck without a problem, causing him to collapse to the ground, apparently dead.

The last two knights were now double teaming Beastboy just like the others before them. This time, however, they seemed to have wised up. Instead of allowing Beastboy to score easy hits on them, these knights fought as a team, in the sense that their attacks were well planned out. The poor shape shifter was forced to deal with these soldiers by fighting defensively. The first knights slashed his sword at Beastboy horizontally while the other swung his sword vertically with perfect aim. The shape shifter morphed into a snake and managed to avoid getting sliced. As a counter attack, Beastboy morphed again into an alligator and swung his tail with such force that he managed to knock both knights down to the ground. Seeing this rare opportunity, Beastboy morphed into a lion and pounced on one of the knights, tearing him to bits with his strong teeth. The second knight was dazed but recovered quickly. Beastboy returned to his human form and faced off the final soldier. This knight started to swing his sword mercilessly as a final resort, knowing the shape shifter would down him soon. To finish the job, Beastboy changed into a gorilla and dodged a few swings. The knight started to tire out and Beastboy took this to his advantage. After a particularly weak slash from the knight, Beastboy charged up to the knight, avoiding any other attacks, and grabbed him by his arms, throwing him with tremendous force against the nearby wall, shattering him forever.

Terra was still fighting her last two knights when Beastboy destroyed his last. One of the knights was constantly stabbing his sword at the blonde, trying to pierce through her rib cage. Terra eventually picked up his pattern of stabbing, and quickly summoned a rock in between a stab, chucking it at the knight who failed to block it and got smacked in the head. This made the knight black out for a moment, giving Terra enough time to summon an even larger boulder and cast it down on the knight, smashing his body back to stone. This left just one knight to get rid of. Now that Beastboy was back in action, he morphed into a bull charged up behind the unsuspecting knight. Terra saw him coming and distracted the knight's attention by throwing a few stones at his head, some of which he failed to block. Much to the knight's discontent, Beastboy's horns pierced the knight from the back and sent him flying into a wall. Terra finished the job by summoning one more boulder and crushing the weakened knight with it. "Mission accomplished!" Beastboy cheered after the final knight was downed.

"That wasn't too bad," Terra said, pleased at their victory, "Anyway, where's the switch that is supposed to be here?" A rumble answered her question as the bars guarding the doors were slowly lifted up. Once they were out of the way, Terra and Beastboy proceeded through the once closed door, arriving in a small room with an orb switch that Robin and Starfire encountered before.

"Um, ok," Beastboy said, quite stumped, "I think this is the switch, but how do we activate it?"

Terra didn't have to think twice as she summoned a small rock, aiming it at the switch. Beastboy noted this and was attempting to stop her, but it was all for naught as Terra threw the rock and hit the orb head on. Beastboy looked like he was about to go insane, but to his surprise the orb lit up and green clouds filled it, just like the previous switch that Robin and Starfire activated. "How, how did you know?" The shape shifter asked, eyes fixed on the swirling orb.

Terra just shrugged, "Dunno, just followed my instinct." She laughed at Beastboy's funny expression and began walking back to the main room, the shape shifter close by.

-

(Cyborg and Raven)

The two teens jumped in opposite directions to avoid getting hit by the vines that now crashed into the ledge, causing several cracks to form. Cyborg, still not sure what his direct target was, fired his sonic cannon at the tree. The beam hit dead on, but seemed to cause no damage. Raven quickly magicked a piece of a dead tree from the forest below and threw it at one of the vines. The vine, however, seemed to have a mind of its own, independent from the tree, managing to catch the dead tree, crushing it in half.

"This is one smart tree," Cyborg commented, avoiding yet more attacks, but he failed to dodge a vine coming up from behind him and got smacked. The force of the hit sent him flying into a nearby wall. Raven, seeing this, ran over to help him up.

"Cyborg, are you ok?" The dark witch asked in a hurry, keeping an eye out for more vines. The robotic teen replied positively and thanked her, the two heading back to the fight. By now, the tree managed to create another batch of ten vines that it sent for the teenagers, bringing the total to twenty now. Cyborg and Raven wasted no time in disposing of this mess, knowing that the more time they wasted, the more vines the tree would summon.

Cyborg was already busy taking care of five mutated vines while firing his cannon at the tree. The vines surrounded him and each was attacking him, one at a time. Seeing this, Cyborg fired his cannon at the attacking vine, surprising the rest of them. The unprepared vine was wasted as the robotic teen's cannon ripped through it, rendering it harmless. To get rid of the remaining vines quickly, Cyborg powered up his cannon and spun around in a full circle, his cannon's beam slashing the vines. This got rid of all five vines, and caused the tree to pull them back, apparently in pain, sending another five vines back to Cyborg to replace the damaged ones.

Raven was having no problem destroying the vines attacking her. Even though she could not levitate because of the curse, the dark witch was managing well from throwing magicked items to defending attempted hits. She easily wiped out two vines by diverting the group's attention to a summoned log which she sent into the air. The vines, focused on the floating log, didn't see Raven summon another log in secrecy. She threw this log, which was much rougher than the floating log, at two vines, cutting them in half and again into quarters. The remaining three vines were confused as to what just happened, giving Raven enough time to throw the log she summoned previously at the weakened group, slashing all three vines into oblivion. 'Well that was easy,' Raven thought, preparing for the final group of incoming vines sent by the tree again.

Once again, Cyborg found himself enclosed in a circle of vines. This time, however, the vines all attacked as a group, which actually made it easier for Cyborg. The vines attacked in a pattern, each striking at the same time as the rest, which left them open for about a second before they could recover after the attack. Cyborg waited for them to strike, and so they did. He jumped up, avoiding a hit, and fired his cannon at random at the now temporarily disabled vines. The beam managed to hit and destroy three of them, causes the last two to go berserk trying to hit Cyborg. The robotic teen wasn't prepared and got hit hard, sending him flying to the ground. "Oh that's it..." Cyborg muttered to himself, quickly recovering. The two vines now just attacked at random, not caring about anything anymore. The robotic teen took this to his advantage, quickly moving under one of the two vines. The first vine sent itself towards the ground, hopeful to hit Cyborg, but instead hit the other vine, just as planned. The two vines were now in a state of paralysis, giving Cyborg the opportunity to fire his cannon one more time which destroyed the last two vines. "Boo-ya..." Cyborg said, pleased with his efforts.

The five vines attacking Raven were getting beat up, badly. Raven was simply dodging attacks and countering in a style that the vines found perplexing. No matter what move they tried, Raven was able to avoid it and strike back with a vengeance. She quickly disposed of two vines by magicking them directly and snapping the two in half, leaving just three vines to go before this was all over. The three vines now attacked at will, taking every opportunity to strike. This wasn't perhaps the best idea since Raven simply moved out of the way and watched the vines beat themselves up; it was actually quite amusing. After catching her breath, Raven resumed to lift a magicked log, shaped like a spear, at the vines, throwing it when they were in a group. The spear was successful, hitting all three vines though the center and destroying them. The tree pulled those vines back, and now was left just standing still.

"Um, did we win?" Raven asked, seeing the serenity had returned to the room.

Cyborg looked around, "Guess so, but now what?" He was answered as a bunch of stone behind them moved out of the way, revealing a small room with yet another orb switch. The two went inside, examining the switch first.

After trying to find a way to activate it for a few minutes, unsuccessfully, Cyborg became frustrated, "Man, what does it take to flip this switch!" He involuntarily hit the orb with his fist, which caused it to alight with green gases. "Uh, ok, guess that did it," the robotic teen said, slightly embarrassed.

Raven rolled her eyes with a sigh, "Well that's done, so let's get back to the room we all started in; I bet everyone is already waiting." And without another moment to spare, the two backtracked to the temple's lobby.

-

(Temple common room)

Robin and Starfire were the first ones to return from their assigned switch. "Guess we got here early." Robin shrugged, noticing that they were the only two people in the room at this time.

"Robin, look. The platform is no longer surrounded by magic..." Starfire pointed out, looking at the now unprotected elevator. Robin rushed over and took a look.

"So maybe the others already finished after all," the Boy Wonder added. As directly on cue, Beastboy and Terra walked back into the common room from the north door. "Nice to see you are ok." Robin said towards the two, "Nice work on getting that switch activated."

"Thanks dude," Beastboy said. "Cyborg and Raven should be coming back soon I guess, might as well wait it out," the shape shifter added, noting that all but those two Titans were present in the room.

It wasn't much longer until Cyborg and Raven came out of their assigned door. "Hey y'all! Did we activate all those switches?" Cyborg asked, walking over to the rest of the group.

"Yup, the elevator is now available, nice work team!" Robin congratulated once again, the group proceeding to the platform. However, before they could board it, the room's torches dimmed and a familiar voice echoed through the room, "Thanks Titans, but you won't be breaking that barrier today..."

-

Phew, took a while to type that up. :P Anyways, please review if you have some time. Stay tuned for more chapters coming (hopefully) soon.


	16. Betrayed

Wow it's been a long while hasn't it:P Anyways, these past few months were seriously busy, so I wasn't able to continue writing until now. Anyways, a thanks to all my reviewers. So after two or so months, I bring you chapter 16:)

**D-I-WaRrIa**: Thanks for the review! I don't plan on keeping Alex around too long though, so I guess I might as well make him as evil as possible for now. ;) And thanks for recommending this story. :)

**legato 626**: Thanks! Can't wait for you to update your story. :P

**Forlorn Melody**: Thanks:D The Titans are having rather easy battles so far, but I really plan on changing that very soon. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

Chapter 16: Betrayed

* * *

The Titans weren't sure as to what was going to happen, but that voice sounded all too familiar. Probably not Breaker, nor any of Firesprite's accomplices, but who then? The mystery vanished as Alex, looking twenty years younger, stepped out from the shadows of the now darker room. 

"Surprised to see me, Titans?" Alex questioned, foreshadowing a fight coming on.

The Titans' shock quickly faded to anger as they noticed that they have been betrayed. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you..." Raven muttered, trying her best to control her rage.

Alex just shrugged, "Heh, it was all too easy. I just played my cards right; you deceived yourselves."

"What are you talking about?" Robin demanded.

"Exactly what I just said you foolish boy," Alex replied, watching in amusement as Cyborg and Starfire restrained a very ticked off Robin from charging, "You see, this is what will lead to your downfall. You place too much trust in people, even each other. What if the portal back to Earth fails? What if Karthor lied to you like I did? Hell what if Smilax is not going to fulfill his part of the bargain?"

"How do you about all this?" Terra hissed back, wondering how this guy knew that the Titans had made a deal with King Smilax and that they were planning on using the portal to return home.

"Yeah, and how do you know Karthor and King Smilax?" Beastboy added.

"I know many things," Alex simply replied, "And I know that fact that if you don't return to your planet soon, Firesprite will surely destroy it." He put on a nasty smile as the Titans calmed down, thinking about the state of their planet. "You see, I'm not lying when I say that you are all too 'soft,' so to say. Terra, how do you know that your poor excuse for a boyfriend won't betray you to Firesprite?"

This seemed too much for Terra to take, so she instead vented her blind fury by attempting to chuck a summoned boulder at Alex. "Don't ever say that about Beastboy! Besides, he would never betray me!"

Alex nimbly moved out of the way of the incoming rock, leaving it to crash several feet from its intended target. "Well, would you ever do such a thing as betray your beloved girlfriend, Beastboy?" Alex questioned, not a hint of humor in his voice.

The shape shifter replied with incinerating anger, about to tear Alex to pieces if he said anymore nonsense, "Never. You're just trying to turn us against each other."

"Or am I?" Alex countered, "And you, Starfire, don't try to tell me that you agree with those two." Starfire refused to say anything, moving closer to Robin. "I see. Now let me tell you this. Imagine that the portal to earth only allowed one person to go through, and then shut itself forever after one passes through. This would leave five of you stuck on this dump of a planet for the rest of your lives, and one of you would return back home. Then what? Who will you trust? Who deserves to..."

"I've really had enough of your stupid talk!" Robin blasted out, "I think that you definably need to die right now and rot in here!" The Boy Wonder took out his staff and charged at Alex, who simply stood perfectly still. Robin swung his staff, smacking his opponent full in the head. Alex rubbed his head and calmly walked over to the other Titans, all who were ready to slaughter him.

"Would you still attack me if I were to do this?" Alex took out a long wooden staff with a red orb on top and used it to cast a blue bubble around himself. After a moment or two, the bubble disappeared, and Alex stepped out, looking exactly like Cyborg.

The real Cyborg was outraged. "Yo, that's not cool! I'll get you back for this!" Cyborg ran up to his impersonated self and threw a punch to Alex's head. However, just as Cyborg's fist connected with Alex's head, he felt the pain in his skull as well. "Oww! What gives?"

"Heh heh... it's a simple spell really. Whatever you do to me, will reflect onto the person I've taken the form of, though I still will be hit," Alex said, now changing to look like Robin. He turned to face Starfire, saying, "Go ahead, attack me now Starfire. Let's see how strong you really are."

Starfire was hesitant. "I... I can't," She finally whispered, looking down at the ground in misery. Alex took out his imitation of Robin's staff and swung it hard at Starfire, who could do nothing to stop it. The Tamaranian princess was sent flying into a wall as the cold metal of the staff hit her undefended body.

"And what about you Raven?" Alex transformed into a Raven look-alike, turning to face her. The dark witch, taking a wild risk, used her magic to command a pillar of stone from the temple to slam into Alex. The stone hit her enemy, causing him to be thrown a few feet, but at the same time she was also hurled away in pain. "I see that you thought I was kidding, eh?" Alex stood up, recovering from Raven's attack.

Raven too forced herself up, "I knew what was going to happen, but at least I'm not a coward like you." She once again summoned a few vines off the walls to fly at Alex, who once again got hit hard and tumbled to the ground. Alex's magic took effect, and Raven yelled out in pain as she fell to the unforgiving stone floor.

Cyborg, who happened to be nearby, ran over to the fallen Raven and helped her up. "Take it easy Rae, we'll have to find another way to get rid of him." The dark sorceress reluctantly agreed, frustrated that she couldn't finish him off.

"Ok, enough of this demonstration," Alex said as he hopped to his feet, "Time to kill you all!" Alex morphed into Starfire and shot a barrage of bolts at the Titans. Having not too many choices, the teens simply had to dodge his attacks. Alex amped up the fight by transforming into Terra and summoning millions of rocks, throwing them aimlessly at the fatiguing Titans. Cyborg and Raven, the two that were injured the most, were struck by the rain of rocks, forcing them to hide behind a a stone wall which rendered the two unable to fight Alex for the time being.

Since Alex was still in the shape of one of their team members, none of the Titans could do anything against the evil mage. Alex realized that he was starting to make progress, and thereby morphed into Robin. He took out a few freeze disks from the replica of Robin's utility belt and fabricated a bunch of energy balls with his staff, showering them on the desperate Titans. He managed to knock out Starfire with one of the energy spheres and Robin as well not much later after he lost concentration when the Tamaranian princess went down. This only left a tired Beastboy and Terra to fight.

"Seems we reached the end of the line," Alex mocked the two as he morphed in Beastboy, further morphing into a green kangaroo. Beastboy tried to retaliate by shape shifting into an alligator ready to attack, but Alex was too quick for him. The mage leaped and landed right next to the real shape shifter, smacking him hard into the wall with his tail. Terra, dazed from the fight when she noticed that Beastboy was already unconscious, was easily taken care of by Alex with another whip of his tail. Alex finally changed back into himself after all the Titans were either unconscious or too weakened to fight. Using his magic, he rounded up all the teens and bound them together with some magical force.

"That was too easy," Alex laughed as he levitated all the Titans and placed them against a wall. He walked over to Robin and kicked him in the stomach, causing the Boy Wonder to double over in pain. "All you managed was to give me a few scratches, yet I was able to take all of you out by myself. I think Firesprite and Acrimon will be pleased."

"Why... are you doing this?" Terra questioned him weakly, praying that Beastboy would be alright.

Alex calmly walked over to her, "Because I would like to see the barrier still active."

Terra only got more frustrated by his reply, "You are such an idiot..."Alex quickly became angry and slapped Terra across her face.

"Leave her alone, none of us did anything to you anyway," Beastboy woke up, still fatigued but angered after hearing Alex hit Terra.

"I might as well end this now," Alex whispered in a grim tone as he knelt down before the two. He unsheathed a dagger from somewhere in his cloak and held it up in front of Terra's face. "I won't kill you by the most powerful magic nor by sword. Instead, I'll make sure to give you the most painful death you can ever experience."

Beastboy shifted himself so he faced Alex directly, "Touch her with that dagger and I'll make sure to personally rip you to shreds..." The shape shifter was determined to avoid the fate Alex had planned.

Alex wasn't impressed. "Heh heh. What can you do? You're life is in my hands now." The mage punched Beastboy in the face with his free hand and turned to Terra. He grabbed her by the hair and forcefully moved her head to the side, dagger positioned right at her neck. "One more outburst and your girlfriend will be gone."

Beastboy saw this and immediately yelled out, "No! I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt her!" Alex smiled and released Terra, who was now breathing heavily from fear.

Alex thought for a moment, 'I might as well get this over with, considering that Firesprite or someone will roast my ass if I don't hurry. I'll take care of the Boy Wonder first.' The mage stood up and moved over to where Robin was. "Now watch as I single-handedly kill your leader!" Alex hollered to Beastboy and Terra as they sat hopelessly, watching what was about to happen.

The evil mage grabbed Robin's throat and shoved him further into the wall. "You... can't do this..." Robin muttered, seeing no way out.

"Oh but I can, and you will watch it all through!" Alex countered, raising the dagger and preparing to pierce Robin's throat, guaranteeing instant death. Alex sent the dagger flying at Robin's throat, but just as it was about an inch away from its intended target, Alex mysteriously stopped right there. He tried to move his handed, but something was holding it in mid air. "What the hell is going on!" Alex fumed, wanting to kill Robin as fast as possible.

The Boy Wonder opened his eyes, bewildered that he was still alive. Alex was furiously trying to move the dagger the remaining distance, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't. "Not your lucky day, is it Alex?" Said a voice from the entrance door in the room. Everyone turned their heads to see who was there, and the Titans were relived when they recognized the person.

"Karthor..." Alex muttered, looking at the elder, walking staff in hand, descending the stairs of the room's main door.

"Yup, alive and kicking," Karthor said lively, "Hmm, having some trouble I see. Try this." Karthor waved his hand and the dagger in Alex's hand switched directions so now it was pointed at its owner's throat instead.

"You wouldn't..." Alex threatened, eyes wide.

Karthor shrugged and calmly said, "You are wanted dead by the king anyway, and this seems like the perfect was to dispose of you. So all I got to say is: bye." The elder moved his hand with one swift motion, and the dagger had thrust itself deep into Alex's throat.

"You... won't... get away... with this..." Alex barely managed to say before he coughed up some blood and collapsed on the floor, clearly dead.

"Save yourself the trouble," Karthor rolled his eyes, not seeming to care. "Sorry for coming so late Titans," Karthor said to the Titans, all obviously overjoyed. The elder muttered a few words and the force binding the teens down vanished, leaving them free to stand up.

Robin was rather surprised to see Karthor, "How did you know that we were in trouble?"

Karthor chuckled, "I sensed that something was going wrong. I even decided to take a peek at what was going on in the temple. I tried to get some people to come with me, but no one cared since they were already busy with something that seemed irrelevant. So I came here myself and that's when my suspicions came true."

"Thanks for taking care of that creep, now I don't suppose that you can do anything to maybe heal us?" Cyborg asked, pointing out the various wounds that the Titans suffered.

"Ah, I totally forgot!" Karthor mentally slapped himself for forgetting, "This should restore some of your energy." Karthor once again waved his hands and chanted some words in a language that the Titans couldn't understand, casting a spell over the teens that cleared most of their wounds and revitalized energy.

"Thanks! Now that's what I'm talking 'bout!" Cyborg exclaimed, clearly amazed.

"No problem, but I guess that you should be moving along now," Karthor said, trying to be modest. The Titans ended up thanking the elder and proceeded into the waiting elevator. One by one, the Titans arrived in the basement of the temple. To their surprise, the basement was actually only one large room, or so they thought. The main room was circular, but much smaller than the temple's common room upstairs. There were two other, much smaller rooms that extended out from the main one to the east and west. But what really stumped the Titans was that there was a long, red carpet on the floor that lead straight into a wall. The whole place seemed rather suspicious.

Robin was trying to figure this out, "It doesn't make sense that there is nothing in this room, but I bet you that those two switches have something to do with it. Star, could you check one of the rooms out?"

Starfire nodded and hovered over to the western room. The room itself was only ten feet wide and fifteen feet long, but there was an orb switch, much like the ones the Titans encountered in other places of the temple, standing in the center. Without thinking, Starfire hit the switch, causing a rumble to overtake the entire basement. "Um, oops..." The Tamaranian girl quickly scrambled out to regroup with the rest of the Titans who stood in the center of the main room, not sure what was going on. The rumbling went on for another moment, and the Titans noticed that the main room had started to rotate clockwise. One opening that used to serve as the entrance to the western room was now leading into a solid wall, but the other opening was now facing the same switch room where Starfire was previously.

"Yup, this place is weird..." Raven muttered nonchalantly, somewhat impressed.

"You know, if we keep hitting these switches, I think that one of the doors will finally lead to where the carpet is going," Terra pointed out.

Robin agreed, "Beastboy, go hit that switch again. Maybe this time we'll get lucky." Beastboy immediately dashed to the small room and smacked the switch, quickly retreating once he did so. The room once again rotated, but now the western room was blocked off while the eastern one was free. Beastboy once again activated the switch in that room, causing the main one to rotate counterclockwise. Just as the Titans hoped, one of the opening was now leading to another passage, the same one that the carpet was leading to.

The Titans proceeded to follow the long and winding passage. The passage itself was nicely decorated; torches emitted a soft glow on the walls and the gray stone was replaced by granite. It wasn't long until the Titans reached the end of this passage, arriving at a large oak door. Engraved on the upper portion of the door was a skull, signaling that entry could come with consequences.

"Well, I assume that this is where the barrier should be," Raven said. Cyborg, being the strongest of the group, pushed the door open. As the Titans entered, they were utterly shocked. This room was nothing like the rest of the temple. They were walking on a small stone bridge that led to a larger central platform. Spiked metal railing lined the edges of the bridge and platform, while the small torches that the Titans had become accustomed to were not present. Instead, a deep blue light was shining from the dark abyss below the bridge and platform, filling the entire room with a navy blue hue. There was another bridge on the other side of the central platform that lead to another door. However, the rumored barrier was not obvious in this room.

"I guess that the barrier is in the next room," Robin sighed, hoping to get this over with. As the Titans walked onto the central platform, more spiked railing suddenly flew out of the ground along the edges of the platform, blocking both bridges. The central platform had started to slowly rise, separating itself from the two bridges.

"Man what's going on?" Cyborg questioned, now confused as to what was happening.

The platform stopped rising, and a new series of torches lining the walls around the platform lit up, casting eerie shadows all over the place. A voice erupted out of nowhere, causing the Titans to regroup. "Who dares enter this sacred temple!" The voice questioned.

Robin spoke up, rather wishing he didn't have to, "We just came here to destroy the Jungle Barrier, that's all."

"That's all! The barrier is meant to be kept active! So I will give you the option to leave now, or face eternal doom!" The voice echoed back.

The Titans were obviously scared now. "Who are you anyway?" Terra questioned, holding on to Beastboy's arm.

"That is not important, but I assume that you wish to fight! So be it!" The voice faded away as it said those few words. A few shadows from the dark abyss below hovered up and started to join in the center of the platform that the Titans were on. As more and more shadows joined, they started to form a being. Even more shadows flew up and the being took form completely. It was seven feet tall and appeared to be wearing dark black armor with gold lining its edges. A large battle axe spawned in front of the being, and upon its completion, was grabbed with both of the being's hands. Two orange eyes ignited in its face, and the being started hovering stably about a foot off the ground. The actual body of the being was composed of semitransparent purple shadow and its face was clear with the exception of its eyes.

"I am the Abyssal Shadow, and if you wish to break any barriers, you'll have to go through me first!" The being hollered in a voice that seemed to drain the energy of anyone who heard it.

The Titans, mustering all the courage they had, stood prepared to fight the Abyssal Shadow, hoping that he wouldn't be as tough as he looked.

* * *

Once again, sorry it took so long to get this chapter done. :) Hope you enjoyed it! 


	17. One Down

I present to you another installment of this story. :P This chapter is pretty much all fighting, hope that's ok. ;) Anyways, a thanks to all of my reviewers!

**D-I-WaRrIa**: Thanks! And yeah, you've guessed it: all action in this one. ;) Can't wait for you to update your stories as well. :D

**teentitantruefriend**: Lol thanks! I'm glad that you enjoy reading this story. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

Chapter 17: One Down

There was nothing but cold, dead silence in the room. It was as though all life was put on pause, except for the six teenagers and the vile apparition.

The Titans weren't sure what the Shadow had in mind for them, but they decided to take it easy and try to find out a weakness that they could go after. However, prepared as they were, the Abyssal Shadow made no movement whatsoever; it just hovered there, eyes glued on the Titans. They stood for what the Titans felt was an eternity before finally Robin decided it was time to try and take this thing down.

"Alright, enough waiting. Titans, attack that thing!" Robin yelled out as he and the rest of the Titans charged at the waiting ghost. Starfire threw a rain of bolts, Raven magicked a few tiles out of the platform's floor and also sent them flying, and Terra summoned a chuck of the stone wall surrounding the platform, each throwing the objects forcefully at their target. However, everything the three Titans threw just passed right through the Shadow's semitransparent body. Still, the Shadow did not attack back, leaving the three to move back and prepare another attack. Meanwhile, Robin snuck up behind the Shadow and swung his staff hard, but it never even made contact with the ghostly body as the black armor, which was somehow being worn by the Shadow, blocked it. Apparently, the Shadow couldn't be physically harmed by distance nor close combat attacks.

Beastboy also gave it a shot and charged at his target in the form of a small tiger, but like the rest of the failed attempts, the shape shifter easily passed through the Shadow's body, narrowly missing hitting his head on the ghost's armor. "Dude, how are we supposed to take him down if we can't even touch him?" Beastboy questioned as the Titans regrouped, Cyborg not even bothering to waste power by attacking.

"I really have no idea..." Cyborg finally said.

The Abyssal Shadow seemed to snap back to life. "Already? I didn't even feel a thing..." The Shadow said in its hoarse voice, "But you have been here long enough, time to meet your fate!" Without warning, the ghost ran up to the Titans in lightning speed, slamming his battle axe into the ground which forced the Titans to split up. Robin, Starfire, and Raven were to one side of the Shadow, and Beastboy, Terra, and Cyborg were to the opposite.

"Six against one, how fair... Let's see you handle this!" The Shadow hollered as he returned to a bubble of shadow and split in two, reforming itself afterwards.

"Now see if you can take two of me!" Both clones hollered, each going to one of the groups.

It turned out that even though the real Abyssal Shadow was now two entities, both clones had the exact same power and strength as the original, which made it much harder to fight. Both ghosts were putting up quite a good fight, probably the best the Titans had ever encountered.

"Man, this is getting annoying real fast!" Cyborg said out in frustration, unable to cause any physical damage to the Shadow. Beastboy was trying his best to block off the spirit's attacks while Terra and Cyborg attacked it by the use of projectiles. It was all in vain, however, as the three started to get tired and the Shadow was still untouched.

"You'll have to do better than that," The Shadow clone said, swinging his axe in a way that he managed to hit all three Titans, sending them to the floor. He hovered over and look directly at the weakened teens, his eyes starting to turn a shade of light blue.

None of them knew what the spirit was planning on doing. "What are you trying to do, scare us to death?" Terra joked rhetorically, herself not knowing what was coming. Without any further warning, two powerful silver beams shot out of the Shadow's eyes, making direct contact on the Titans. The beams were a mixture of electricity and fire, and when they hit the Titans, all three felt immense pain and screamed out.

Neither Robin nor any of the other Titans could do anything to help, as the other clone was blocking their every move. As the Shadow clone's beams intensified, the pain became too much for the Titans to bear, causing them to go unconscious. The spirit laughed at the fallen Titans, hovering over to the other side to help out its other clone.

Starfire was the first to notice what happened to her friends. "Robin, look!" Robin quickly took a glance at the other side of the platform and noticed what Starfire was talking about. This gave him another reason to make sure the Shadow was defeated in the most painful way, even if it couldn't feel pain. Still, one of the Shadow's clones was keeping them fighting. As the other entity hovered over, the two merged together and formed the original Abyssal Shadow.

"I just took out three of your little friends, now what are you going to do about it?" The Shadow laughed at the helpless Titans as it moved in for another attack. Instead of trying to hit the Titans, the Shadow powered up its axe with a misty purple spell that made the thing glow radiantly in the form of a gradient from a light green to a deep emerald green. With all the might it could summon from its mystical body, the Shadow slammed the axe into the platform, causing the entire column of stone on which the battle was taking place on to vibrate and slowly start to split in two. The Titans were too shocked to notice that the other three Titans had started to slowly slide over the platform.

"I guess that your other friends wanted to take a dive," the Shadow said menacingly, watching the group of three start to fall over down into the abyss.

It all happened in slow motion from Robin's perspective. One by one, Beastboy, Terra, and Cyborg slipped over the edge and started the long downwards fall into the unknown darkness that loomed below. Robin, nor any of the other two Titans, could do anything to stop them as the rumbling of the platform and the Shadow's careful guard quashed any means of getting across to save them.

Tears formed in Starfire's eyes as she realized that she may never see her friends again. "How could we just let our friends die!" She questioned in anger aloud, much to the Shadow's pleasure.

"Because you are all failures," the Shadow answered, "You came all this way for nothing."

After hearing this bit, Raven completely lost it. "Shut up! Shut the hell up and leave us alone!" She started throwing all kinds of random magic at the Abyssal Shadow, most of not even leaving a scratch. However, the Shadow seemed to take note of Raven's anger and started to defend his black plate armor for an unknown reason.

"He really seems to treasure his armor," Starfire pointed out, still amazed by Raven's fury.

Robin finally came up with a plan. Obviously, the armor covering the Shadow must serve some purpose, and if the Shadow actually defended it, then the Titans' best bet would be to attack his armor. Starfire, with the help of Robin, managed to cool Raven down and the two opposing enemies settled down for a moment.

"Are you ok Raven?" Robin asked the dark witch, who replied with a simple "yeah." The Boy Wonder took this opportunity to quickly mention his theory about attacking the Shadow's armor. Having nothing to lose, Raven and Starfire agreed.

By now the Abyssal Shadow had completely recovered from Raven's fury and stood ready to attack. "That was a nice display, but I'm afraid that you'll have to be better than that!"

"Oh we will..." Robin muttered as the three Titans attacked without warning. Robin threw as much explosive disks as he could hold and Starfire threw yet another barrage of bolts with the aid of her eye lasers. Raven summoned blocks of stone and metal from the walls and along with the others attacks, threw them aiming for the Shadow's black armor. The Shadow, seeing all this coming at him, unsuccessfully tried to block the incoming attacks. Just as planned, most of the thrown objects hit the Shadow's armor, causing the Shadow to be thrown straight into the platform, his armor shattering into many glittering black slivers.

"What have you done!" The Abyssal Shadow yelled out, black energy overtaking him. He started morphing into various geometric shapes all in a few seconds worth of time. He screamed out an eerie yell and the cluster of purple shadow exploded into many smaller ones, each falling into the abyss.

Silence fell over the room, with the exception of the crackling sound of the few remaining torches that were still lit. The Titans were rather confused as the past few events happened almost instantly. The bridge that was previously unseen reattached itself as it slowly elevated itself to be level with the slightly slanted platform. A wall of stone moved away at the point where the bridge was leading, revealing two new wooden doors.

"That's it? It's over?" Raven questioned, still looking around.

Their moment of victory was cut short as they noticed that three of their friends weren't present. "What about Cyborg and Beastboy and Terra? Where are they now?" Starfire asked tearfully, hoping that they were still alive down somewhere in the abyss.

Robin was very silent, not knowing the state of the three Titans' conditions, "I... don't know. Doesn't look like they had a very good chance of surviving the fall, where ever it leads to..."

"We can't give up... but we can't really _do_ anything right now," Raven said, looking over the edge of the stone platform, "It's too dark to fly down there and check it out, and we don't know what is really on the bottom." The dark witch sighed in defeat as she retreated to the other two Titans.

"Well, what now?" Robin asked, not sure as to go ahead through the doors or try something else.

Starfire refused to speak, still looking very depressed. Raven, seeing this, replied, "I guess we have no choice but to go ahead to the next room." The three were very hesitant, but they knew that standing around was going to do nothing, so the Titans slowly proceeded to the bridge.

Robin sighed as they arrived at the doors. "I... I just hope that they are alright..." He finally said after a moment of thought. There was nothing to do but to push the doors open, but just as Robin placed his hands on the left door's handle, the whole place rumbled a second time, but much more violently then previously.

"Now what?" Raven questioned impatiently.

The abyss, which was pitch black just a few moments ago, now let through a barrage of blue beams, lighting up the room in a hue of deep navy. "I'm not done with you yet!" The same horrific voice filled the entire place, causing the three Titans to brace themselves for anything. One large shadow to rival Raven's powers zoomed out of the abyss, this time rendered in a deep emerald green color. The shadow slammed into the center of the platform and morphed itself once again into the Abyssal Shadow. He looked just like before, with the exception of a silver headband, encrusted with a green gem in the center, that was now worn. "Now you will pay for defeating me the first time!"

"And we'll make _you_ pay for taking away our friends!" Robin said aloud.

"Yes, where are they you vile thing!" Starfire blasted out, surprising the other two Titans.

The Shadow simply laughed, "Wouldn't you like to know? Where ever they are, I know that for a fact that they won't be interfering with our fight now."

The three Titans didn't need any orders as they unleashed their attacks without another warning. A group of bolts, disks, and magicked items flew at the Shadow, who lifted his hand and caused the projectiles to drop from the air. "Can't wait to try out these new powers," the Shadow hinted, pointing out that he could now do far more powerful magical attacks.

"No matter what magic you can do, we'll still take you down!" Robin yelled, almost mocking the Shadow, "Titans, split up!" Upon the Boy Wonder's order, the three Titans went their separate ways until they formed a triangle around the Shadow.

"I see your logic, but that won't work against me," the Shadow said, casting a barrier around himself.

Robin was the first to attacks, charging up to the Shadow while chucking handfuls of disks of each variety. The disks didn't cause any initial damage as the barrier blocked their effects, but the Shadow was distracted which gave Robin enough time to to jump at his target. The Boy Wonder swung his staff without mercy at the shadow, making contact with its body. Unlike the previous form of the Shadow, the staff actually caused the Shadow to recoil in physical pain.

"Barriers are nice, but they can't block everything..." the Shadow muttered, recovering from the blow. As a counterattack, the Shadow cast a spell that formed a circular ball of electricity, and swung it telepathically with its hand like a mace. The Titans jumped, ducked, or did whatever they could to avoid getting hit. The Shadow started spinning himself on the spot, causing the ball to travel faster and faster around the platform. Occasionally it made contact with the platform itself, shattering a piece of it into small bits of rock. Whenever they could, the Titans threw a projectile, whether it be a bolt or disk, at the rotating Shadow hoping to hit it, but none of their attempts were successful.

Finally, after a long time of dodging the Shadow's electric ball, Raven managed to hit the Shadow's head with a magicked piece of the broken platform. Upon contact, the Shadow terminated its attack and yelled out in pain. "Lucky shot, now take this!" The Shadow powered up another smaller ball of energy and threw it at Raven with blazing speeds. The dark witch was unable to block it and was sent flying into the wall. Again, the Shadow shot another energy ball that caused an explosion when it hit an undefended Raven. "And now try this..." However, the Abyssal Shadow couldn't finish his speech, nor attack, as Starfire rammed him with a large green bolt.

"Raven, are you undamaged!" Starfire hollered to a recovering Raven. The dark witch replied in the affirmative, and flew over back to the platform.

"Now what was a cheap shot," the Shadow said, hovering stably once again, "but you forget that you can't kill me, no matter what! I'm invincible!"

The Titans weren't moved. There was a way to defeat this creature, just like they got rid of his first form. Raven did notice that the headband the Shadow was wearing was rather strange. What good would it do anyway if he's a ghost?

"Take this!" The Shadow powered up an energy ball, slightly larger than his previous two, and chucked it at the Titans, who dodged it without a problem.

Yes, there must be something up with that headband, Raven continued to think while easily dodging any attacks. There was one similarity: all of the Shadow's attacks were green, just like the gem in his headband! There was obviously a connection. If they managed to remove the headband, then possibly the Shadow would lose his ability to preform magic attacks, giving the Titans an easy target. Might as well try it.

"Robin, Starfire! Get rid of his headband!" Raven yelled out, giving her theory a test run.

The other two complied, changing their focus of attack. Starfire was the first to fire some bolts at the headband, but the Shadow blocked them. He countered with a bolt of his own, which hit Starfire in the face as she failed to defend herself. The Tamaranian was sent hard into the ground after the bolt collided with her.

"Star! Are you alright!" Robin asked with concern, but Starfire motioned that she was fine, letting a few drops of blood fall to the floor from a cut across a cheek she received as a result. This made Robin yet more motivated to remove the Shadow off the face of this planet.

"I've had it with you..." Robin silently muttered, looking at the Shadow with a look of pure hatred. The Boy Wonder started to charge at the Shadow, but instead of directly attacking, Robin leaped right over his target and brought his staff down hard. The Abyssal Shadow nimbly dodged the attack, but was then hit by Raven's incoming magic, sending him across the platform.

Starfire, now ready to beat the snot out of the Shadow, fired a few bolts into the air, causing them to fly up and then down with more force. The Shadow tried his best to avoid getting hit, but as soon as he dodged one bolt, he was smacked with another. After the barrage of bolts was cleared, both Robin and Raven ran up from opposite sides, hitting the Shadow with whatever they had.

As an end result, the Shadow was thrown with such force into the platform that the impact managed to cause his headband to slip off and slide across into Robin's waiting hands.

"What are you doing! Return that band at once!" the Shadow yelled out in desperation, but to no avail.

"Let's see how strong you are without this thing," Robin said, tossing the headband into the air and breaking it to pieces with a swing of his staff. Small bits of silver and emerald fell to the floor, much to the Shadow's horror. As soon as the headband broke, a powerful force overtook the Shadow, twisting it in every direction possible. The Shadow started screaming out in obvious pain, parts of him starting to disintegrate.

"You may have defeated me, but there are much more powerful guardians in the other temples," the Shadow said with whatever strength it had left, "And I was indeed the weakest of them all. You won't get very far, trust me on that!" The Shadow's words faded after a moment, leaving the Titans standing alone on the battle torn platform.

"Well, I guess that does it," Robin said, watching the last bits of the Shadow disappear forever.

"Yes, but we still don't know what happened to the rest of our friends," Starfire said, looking at the ground in tears. Robin went over to comfort her.

Raven thought for a moment, "Maybe they aren't dead as I know we are thinking. This abyss has to lead somewhere, and I doubt it's a solid stone floor. Even if did, Terra would be able to summon a boulder or something and save the three of them."

Robin agreed, "Hmm, I never really thought about it that way. But until we know for sure, we unfortunately can't guarantee that they are safe. Might as well go get rid of that barrier now..." Raven and Starfire nodded, leaving the three to proceed to the wooden doors.

Upon pushing them open, the Titans found themselves in a long hallway lined with torches that lit the way. Seeing no other option, the Titans proceeded down this plain hallway until they arrived at another set of wooden doors. Unlike the doors before them, there was a symbol of a leaf carved into these two doors.

"I guess this is the place," Robin said, pushing these doors open.

He was right. The Titans found themselves in a whole different room. It was unlike any they had seen so far in this temple. The room itself was in the shape of a cube, the walls made of stone were colored a very deep green, bringing out the nature in the temple. A green carpet filled the floor of the room, but the most prominent feature was the large, cylindrical beam of emerald light that was traveling vertically from the floor to the roof. In the center of this beam was levitated a large, olive colored gem shaped like an enormous diamond.

"Well, this is the barrier alright," Raven said.

"True, but how do we destroy it?" Starfire questioned, seeing no obvious way of shutting this thing down.

Robin was puzzled, "Beats me... I think we should have asked Karthor before we left..."

"We got nothing to lose, so why not trying hitting that diamond thing?" Raven suggested, not expecting much.

"Worth a try," Robin armed an explosive disk and backed away with the rest of the Titans. He threw the disk at the gem and it exploded. No real change happened except the beam in which the gem was surrounded flickered for a few seconds.

Starfire, always managing to come up with ideas in situations like these, said, "How about we all attack it? That way maybe the beam will stop and the gem will be destroyed."

Raven and Robin needed no further convincing. The Boy Wonder counted down from ten, and upon his signal, all the of the Titans threw something at the gem. As all the objects collided, the beam seemed to stop altogether. As a result, a small tremor overtook the room as the gem, now left hovering by itself, exploded into tiny bits of green slivers. Raven casted a shield over the Titans as the bits of crystal flew all over the room.

"Is it... gone?" Starfire asked, looking over at the now empty holes in which the light traveled. Tiny crystal slivers filled the floor of the room from the gem's explosion, signaling that the barrier must have been broken.

"Looks like it," Raven replied. However, just as she finished her statement, a small rumble echoed through the cubical room as a column of stone rose from the hole on the ground. It stopped moving up in a few moments, going up about five feet off the ground. On its top was placed a small emerald jewel shaped like a sphere. The Titans carefully approached it.

"Should we take it?" Starfire questioned, looking down at the innocent jewel.

"I don't think so. It's probably a trap like in the movies, and we don't want anymore trouble," Robin said. Starfire reluctantly agreed. "I guess our job in this place is done. Raven could you get us out of here?"

"With pleasure," Raven wrapped the group of three in a black shadow and warped out of the temple.

* * *

(Outside the Jungle Temple)

Bright daylight greeted the Titans as they arrived outside on the steps of the Jungle Temple. Everything in the jungle outside seemed to have come back to life after the barrier was supposedly broken. Trees that were previously dead now were revitalized with life. The leaves, which were previously a brownish color, now turned green. Also, various sounds of animals started to fill the air, which confirmed that the Titans' job at this temple was done.

"Everything looks alright, but I still can't get the fate of the other Titans out of my mind," Robin commented.

This seemed to bring the three Titans' moods back down. "I should have helped them, but that Shadow kept getting in my way..." Raven said with guilt, angered by the fact that she could do nothing to find out the whereabouts of the other Titans right now.

"It wasn't your fault Raven; the Shadow had this planned the whole time: separate us then try to take all of us down one by one." Robin replied, trying to make Raven feel better.

Raven sighed, "I guess, but I'll ask Karthor or Smilax if either of them know something about that abyss."

"Good idea, but for now, let's get back to Emporia so we can plan our next move from there," Robin said, leading the group back along the path that they came, not knowing what became of the rest of the Titans...

* * *

(Back at Emporia Castle, throne room)

From behind the throne, a voice rang out, "How are those kids doing?"

"From what I heard: not too bad." A mage wearing a long brown cloak replied, kneeling in front of the throne which was turned away, facing the opposite wall of the room.

"Good, very good. It's only a matter of time until they complete their quest, and help me complete a task of my own."

The mage replied with uncertainty, "But, are you sure your plan is going to work? I mean, many things can go wrong."

"Yes, I intend on finishing it, too." The voice replied back, "And if I do it in secrecy, then none of Emporia will know what really happened."

"I see, but I recommend that you should be careful; many people are already very suspicious of what's going on over here. Besides, we don't want the people to revolt or something that may blow our identity," the mage said.

"True, but regardless we're still proceeding as I planned. You are dismissed," the voice rang out again, in a more commanding tone.

"Thank you for your time. Good day, King Smilax," the mage bowed and promptly left the room.

* * *

So there you have it. :) Hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter is coming soon. 


	18. Another Barrier

Back again with chapter 18. :) Nothing much to say up here, except a thanks to all reviewers and anyone who reads this fic. :P

**D-I-WaRrIa**: Could be. :P Personally, I think that if the Titans aren't always fighting in a group, the story can get a little more interesting. Just my opinion. ;) By the way, hope you had a kick ass birthday:D

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

Chapter 18: Another Barrier

* * *

Beastboy slowly came back to his senses after being unconscious for who knows how long. His eyelids lifted themselves heavily, as though he was asleep for a while, slowly taking in the first sight of his new location. At first he wasn't sure what was going on, not being familiar with the blue colored stone walls and the lingering smell of pure water in the air; his brain just wasn't functioning for the moment. It didn't take the shape shifter too long to finally figure out what had happened before, and upon doing so, he snapped back to life completely. 

The Abyssal Shadow's painful eye lasers, being rendered unconscious, and feeling himself falling down some eternal pit were the first things he remembered. He pieced together everything he could remember, and then it struck him: was he dead? The details weren't clear to him, but he knew for a fact that there was no way he could have survived a fall that long, assuming he was falling down something in the first place. He quickly pinched himself, rather hard, only to find out that he was still alive and kicking. Taking a breath of relaxation, he noticed something else: he wasn't the only one who was attacked by the Shadow's lasers. Definitely Cyborg was another one and... Terra was too.

As though it was instinct, Beastboy leaped to his feet with unreal energy, and started looking around for his only true love. Cyborg was probably fine; the mechanical teen wasn't made completely of flesh and bones so if he could survive, then Cyborg could just as easily. Beastboy finally got to take a good look at where he was. He found himself in a rather open room, the size of a half a basketball court with small torches sitting on top of short pillars that provided the light. Unlike the Jungle Temple, the stone walls here were were stained a hue of deep blue. He assumed that this must be another temple since he also saw various symbols and small paintings on the walls that depicted something of religious nature. There existed a strange yet perfume-like smell of clean, fresh water in the atmosphere here, which totally gave away the hint that indeed this was the Water Temple. And where there is a temple, there is a barrier that must be broken, for the most part.

The only way out of this room was through a wooden door on the north side, which Beastboy gladly went through. He found himself in a room almost identical to the one before, except this one was longer and wider with a stronger aquatic aroma. However, upon taking a second look, Beastboy noticed two people lying not far from where he was: one was obviously Cyborg and the other was most likely Terra. Beastboy quickly ran up to blonde haired teen without any further thought.

"Terra... Terra are you alright?" The shape shifter questioned, cradling her in his arms.

After a few seconds, Terra finally came about. "Woah, what time is it?" She questioned rhetorically, cuddling up in Beastboy's arms for a short moment.

"Um, BB where are we?" Terra asked, noticing that she wasn't where she expected to be.

Beastboy shrugged, "Not sure. I woke up just a few minutes ago, but I think we should wake Cy before he gets annoyed." It wasn't necessary, however, as Cyborg had already stirred from his slumber.

Rubbing his head slightly, Cyborg was rather surprised to see himself here, "Yo, where are we?" Neither Beastboy nor Terra could give a definite answer as they too weren't exactly sure what to make of this place.

"I have a feeling that this place," Beastboy presented his thoughts, "could be another one of those temples. And I bet you that this place is the Water Temple."

Cyborg seemed to agree, "Yeah, well at least that's one thing you managed to guess." Beastboy shot him an annoyed look, but decided to let it slide. "Anyway," Cyborg continued, acting as the leader of this small group, "I think we should wait for Robin and the others to find us."

"But _how_ are they going to find us," Terra pointed out, "if we are probably in a totally different place than they are?"

Cyborg was stumped. "Ok... but we can always try to break the barrier in here by ourselves," he finally said after a minute of thought.

"Dude, we'll get owned!" Beastboy exclaimed, "Just like the Abyssal Shadow almost killed us!"

All this time, neither Cyborg nor Terra realized what happened before they got here. They were rather shocked when memories of the battle with the Shadow came flooding back to them, noting that painful attack that probably would have killed them.

"Aw man," Cyborg said, rather depressed, "I forgot all about that. And what happened to the other three Titans?"

"Dude, I wish I knew," Beastboy replied, praying that they succeeded in their original goal.

Terra, looking down at the ground in defeat, took a few steps to the other side of the room where a closed door stood waiting. "We really don't know what could have happened to the others, but all we can do is just hope that they made it through," she said, "but now that we're here, we might as well try to get rid of the barrier in this place."

The other two Titans couldn't find anything to argue that move, so they complied. They walked in silence across the room and through the only door at the end. The group arrived at the foot of a gigantic stone staircase leading up into the higher stories of the temple. The stairs were encased by two walls and an inclined ceiling, the walls being close together which made the staircase itself rather narrow.

"Dude, do these stairs even lead somewhere?" Beastboy commented, pointing out that darkness overtook the upper part of the staircase as the torches ceased near its landing. Cyborg flipped on a light from his mechanical body, shining it upward to disintegrate the black velvet darkness that seemed to cover the stairs above. However, there were only more stairs to be seen.

Cyborg turned off his light, looking skeptical, "Um, should we go up there?" There was no alternative, with the exception of a stone door on the side of the staircase's landing that the Titans failed to recognize when they first came in. They were at a deadlock; no one was sure which path to take. Splitting up was obviously foolish as they could land themselves into traps that they wouldn't be able to get out of, or worse.

"I say that we go up the stairs," Beastboy said, "Besides, if we find nothing there we could come right back down."

Terra agreed, "Yeah I see no harm in that." Cyborg, having no other option, accepted Beastboy's plan and so the three started climbing the staircase, Cyborg providing the light. It wasn't long before the pitch black darkness overtook them, which hampered their progress as no one wanted to be the first to find out what lurked here, if anything at all.

At least fifteen minutes must have passed since the trio started their way up, and there was no end to the staircase in sight. "We must be at least a hundred feet above the ground by now..." Terra said impatiently, wondering when they would reach the top.

"Or maybe just a few yards..." Cyborg said, his face shocked. The other two look at him quizzically, but soon joined in as they realized that their mechanical friend was right. Cyborg was shining his light down the stairs now, and it revealed that they only managed to climb two yards worth of stairs.

"Man what the hell is going on?" Beastboy questioned, not believing what he was seeing, "I know that we managed more than this."

Terra, taking the time to think about a solution, put one of her ideas to work, "Cy, keep your light shining down there. Now start walking up and check your progress." The three Titans tried out what Terra suggested, and they found out that they were in fact going up, but the ground wasn't getting any further away. The stairs didn't move at all, but no matter how much the Titans walked, they seemed to stand in place.

The three didn't know what to do. Superstition got the better of the shape shifter, causing him to blurt out, "Dudes this place is cursed!"

Terra countered his claim, "It can't be, but then again how is _this_ possible?" At the time no one could think of an explanation, so they decided to go through the door they that omitted, hoping that it would lead them somewhere.

"Well that was a total waste of time," Cyborg admitted in defeat as the Titans pushed open the stone door once they descended the never ending stairs. They found themselves in a whole different room, much unlike any in the rest of the temple.

This room's dimensions were enormous, almost too large to comprehend. It contained the same color stone walls and was lit up by some unknown light source. The Titans found themselves standing on a thin metal bridge positioned very high above the ground. Below them was water, but it was already moving by the forces of a whirlpool of unimaginable proportions that took up most of the room below. The small bridge seemed to lead diagonally across the room judging by its position. The structure of the bridge and its height had the Titans relatively worried for if it happened to collapse, it would mean instant death in the waters of the whirlpool. They hesitantly started making their way across, moving at a very sluggish pace.

"I seriously hope this bridge doesn't give way," Terra said, clutching on to Beastboy's arm as she slowly followed him. The bridge was only about five feet wide with railings that only rose to a height of four feet, which gave reason to question its durability and safety.

Just about when the Titans reached the midpoint of the bridge, a powerful tremor overtook the room. The three teens held on to the railings for dear life as the tremor intensified. Below them, the whirlpool's center opened up with extreme force, splashing water high into the air. A jaw full of huge fanged teeth that belonged to some kind of worm-like body protruded out to the surface. The body of the creature was covered with a layer of very rough orange skin that contained many folds in it. The body was cylindrical in shape with a rounded off area that housed the jaw, and nothing but the jaw could be noticed; no eyes were present, at least up to this point. This portion of the body was just about as big as the whirlpool itself. As the creature opened its mouth, it emitted a heart stopping roar that only encouraged the tremor to continue. The Titans only managed to get a glimpse of the jaw that was directly below them for a few seconds before the creature returned to the water with a splash.

The tremor rocked the bridge in every direction possible, but no matter how much the Titans tried to hold on, someone was bound to slip. Indeed both Beastboy and Terra, loosing grip of the now slippery railing, fell over the side with the shape shifter holding on to the lower portion of the railing with one hand. Terra had her arms wrapped around him as hard as she could, knowing that death was in store right below them.

With whatever energy Beastboy could summon, he attempted to alert Cyborg who probably didn't see them fall over, "Yo Cyborg! Gonna need a little help here!" The shape shifter's muscles were starting to get sore trying to hold up the weight of two people, and to make it worse, Cyborg didn't seem to hear his plea over the sound of the tremor.

Beastboy saw no other way then to at least try to keep Terra alive. He managed to use the remaining energy to inform her of his plan, "Terra, reach over to that railing right there and climb to the other side. I can't hold on much longer!"

The blonde teen looked at him as though he was mad. "And what about you!"

Beastboy replied as though he was in pain, which he actually was but refused to show it, "Don't worry about me, just go! Now!" Terra had no choice but to stretch her hand to grab onto the railing that Beastboy was already holding on to. She managed to climb back to safety, and immediately turned her attention to help Beastboy, but it was too late. Beastboy drained the last of his stamina helping Terra up over the railing, and so he slowly was forced to let go.

"I love you Terra," was all that Beastboy managed to say before he plummeted hundreds of feet to the unforgiving waters below.

"**_Beastboy!_**" Terra yelled out upon seeing him let go, trying to reach out to the helpless changeling though she knew it was in vain. Beastboy was already too exhausted to turn into a bird of some sort to rescue himself, and so he fell into the whirlpool's waters with a loud splash that sickened Terra to hear. She would have gladly jumped down there and summoned a boulder from the walls to save Beastboy, but by now there was no point as he was already caught in the wrath of the whirlpool.

In a desperate move, she tried to get Cyborg to help out though she knew it was no good, "Cyborg... Cyborg! Beastboy fell over into the water!" The mechanical teen's nonhuman eye almost popped out of his head as he noticed what Terra was talking about. Luckily, the two could see Beastboy floating around in the turning waters below from the bridge. Cyborg tried to think of something to do, but Terra already had something in mind. She summoned a few stones from the walls and pieced them together to get a platform going. Without any preparation, she zoomed down near the water, close enough for her to actually feel the misty spray of the waters. Beastboy was in this hell already, somewhere...

"Yo Terra, he's over there!" Cyborg yelled from the bridge, pointing to an area not far from her. She tried her best to follow Cyborg's direction, and indeed there Beastboy was. Since the water was moving rather fast, it was tough for her to keep an eye on the changeling. After a few tense moments, she got close enough to try to pull him out, but missed by a few inches.

'Alright, just take it easy...' Terra told herself, repositioning her makeshift platform of stone so that she could reach down again. This time luck was on her side as she caught on to Beastboy's hand, trying her best of pull him out of harm's way. It wasn't too easy as Beastboy seemed to be unconscious, making the job much harder from her perspective.

Finally, after a battle that seemed to never end, Terra was able to pull Beastboy, almost losing him again, onto the platform. She took a quick breath of relief and started levitating the platform back to the bridge, praying dearly that Beastboy was going to be alright. Upon arriving close to the bridge, she let Cyborg transfer Beastboy to the floor of the bridge, herself hopping off the platform soon after.

"How is he? Will he be ok?" Terra persistently questioned Cyborg while he ran some tests on Beastboy.

"I'll find out as soon as you stop asking!" Cyborg said in annoyance after a while of incessant interrogation. Terra stopped her questioning and resorted to instead holding onto Beastboy's hand.

The tremor had long since subsided and it didn't take too long for Cyborg to finish up his work. "He's fine, breathing and everything. Just give him a moment to wake up." The mechanical teen said, trying to sound rather important. Terra was easily overjoyed by this news.

The two decided to stay on the bridge, even though they really wanted just to get off the damn thing, for a few more minutes for Beastboy to wake up, not wanting new trouble to arise with a Titan down.

"Are you sure we should just go ahead and bust this barrier?" Terra asked Cyborg.

Cyborg half chuckled, "Well it was _your_ idea from the time we got here."

"Oh yeah..." Terra mentally slapped herself for forgetting that this was mostly her plan.

Beastboy finally started to come about at the sound of their voices. "Dudes..." Was all he could say, surprised to see himself still alive, "What happened?"

Cyborg decided to lighten the mood, "Oh nothing, except that your _girlfriend_ just saved your ass!" Both Beastboy and Terra flashed Cyborg annoyed looks, though Beastboy was slightly embarrassed.

"Shut up tin man," Beastboy finally said, trying to calm a laughing Cyborg, "Can we go now?"

"Yeah sure, whatever man," Cyborg said, standing up but still unable to suppress fits of laughter.

"I think he finally cracked," Terra whispered to Beastboy as the three finished crossing the bridge.

Beastboy replied with amusement, "Dude he cracked a long time ago." This caused both Beastboy and Terra to start laughing at Cyborg's expense. He suspected the jokes were about him anyway, so the mechanical teen just gave them nasty looks.

When the Titans passed through the door on the other side of the bridge, they found themselves in a small cubical room about thirty feet in each dimension. In the center stood a small wooden elevator that appeared to go upward. Having nothing else to do here, the three Titans crammed themselves into the elevator, which seemed to go up without any further command.

"Elevators that go by themselves... this place _has_ to be possessed," Beastboy concluded, still suspicious of this whole temple.

Other than Beastboy's crazed theories, the Titans were once again in a relatively small room that contained only one wooden door. Instinctively, the trio opened the door but stopped right there. Cyborg, who was the one up front, stood looking down. The other two Titans, curious as to why Cyborg didn't proceed, looked over his shoulder. It was then that they noticed why. Apparently, the door led to the same room with the whirlpool, except this time they were even higher above the waters. There was another door on the other side, but there seemed to be no clearcut way reach it, with the exception of a tightrope that connected the two sides.

"Aw great, first crappy bridges and now this," Cyborg complained, claiming that he wasn't going to cross that rope.

Terra simply rolled her eyes, "Big whoop, I'll just summon a rock or two for us to get across." Cyborg agreed to that. Without any further talk, Terra summoned a relatively large rock from the stone walls and set it up to serve as a platform. The three hopped on and Terra used her powers to command the stone to hover to the other side. Before she could reach her destination, however, Cyborg called for her to stop.

"Um, anything wrong?" She questioned Cyborg, bewildered as to what the mechanical teen had to say.

Cyborg was investigating the actual tightrope as they hovered over it. "Yo take a look at this," he said, Beastboy and Terra peeking over the stone, "There are cuts in this rope. Look over at this part."

Indeed, the rope was partially cut in several places, which meant that if they crossed the rope themselves, then it would most likely snap and send them flying down to the waters below.

"And those aren't by accident," Beastboy said, "They were made by a knife..." The partial cuts in the rope weren't from normal wear and tear as Beastboy mentioned, but instead they were those of a knife. This was a trap.

"Someone's been here..." Terra finished, causing the three to turn and look towards the door that they were supposed to have reached. When they first saw the door, it was closed, but now it was slightly ajar with a pair of orange colored eyes peeking out at them. The eyes vanished as soon as the Titans had a good look at them, but a figure could be seen running down the hallway on the other side as the door was now completely open. After that experience, chills ran down the Titans as they knew that there was someone besides them lurking in the temple... trying to murder them.

"I really don't like this place anymore..." Terra said, moving closer to Beastboy for protection. The three Titans wished that they could stay on the safety of the platform, but they had a job to finish. Terra reluctantly flew the stone platform the rest of the way to the door, letting the group jump off.

Cyborg turned around, himself looking rather frightened, "Alright ya'll, stay close together and keep a sharp eye out for anything suspicious." Terra and Beastboy needed no further convincing, the two taking hold of each other's hand and shifting closer. The group then started making their way down the same hallway that the mysterious figure dashed down. It was rather eerie now that another thing, a person probably, was roaming the confines of the temple along with the Titans. All beauty of the temple was quickly discarded and instead replaced with hatred towards this whole place. It was like an armed murderer running around in a house full of defenseless people. Though Cyborg had his sonic cannon out and ready to fire, he wasn't too sure about its success considering the many various lifeforms on this planet.

After passing to the next room once they reached the end of the hallway, the Titans found themselves in a room that branched into two other hallways. Above each hallway entrance was a symbol. The hallway on the left had an inverted triangle shaded a navy color while the hallway on the right had an upright triangle shaded light blue. From this perspective, both hallways looked identical yet they went in opposite directions.

"Guess we have no choice but to split up now," Cyborg announced, rather wishing he didn't have to. There was the option of simply picking one hallway to follow as a group, but if that hallway was a dead-end, then they would waste valuable time. Also, Cyborg couldn't contain power in his battery cells forever, and he already used up a substantial amount. "Alright, so BB and Terra, you take the hallway on the right and I'll the the left one. Be careful." And with that, the Titans went their assigned ways.

Cyborg was walking down a rather plain hallway, nothing but torches and the occasional dripping of water filled the place. This hallway was taking the mechanical teen downwards in a spiral. He eventually reached a door which he promptly entered, not knowing that there was no way back now. As soon as Cyborg closed the door behind him, steel bars dropped down to block entry through the door. There was another door on the other side, but bars had already blocked it as well. This room seemed to be a set up, but nothing was happening. The room itself was the size of a basketball court, the doors being on the shorter sides opposite to each other. The floor was covered by a blue carpet and small torches lined the walls, providing a pleasant light. Cyborg was getting confused since he assumed that something big was supposed to happen, yet the room stayed in its serene state.

'Alright, what's going down here?' Cyborg asked in his mind, starting to make his way across the room. Just as he got halfway, most of the torches were extinguished by some breeze that blew by out of nowhere, throwing the room into semi-darkness. Cyborg retreated from the center of the room, positioning himself near the door through which he came in. Small quantities of water started dripping from the walls, pooling in the center as though they had a mind of their own. Eventually enough water clustered itself, taking on a jellylike property. A form started emerging out of the mess of water, shaping itself like a human. It let out a howl and its turquoise color turned to jet black. A pair of orange eyes, similar to those the Titans saw before, formed somewhere where a normal person's eyes would be. The final height of the figure resulted in six feet. Additionally, a sword formed itself from the water and turned to steel. The figure, grabbing the sword, poised itself for battle.

"Ok now this is just plain weird," Cyborg commented out loud, a bit amazed by the way this figure created itself out of simple water.

The figure spoke up, "If you wish to ever see the sunlight again, then you'll have to take me down. Otherwise you'll be trapped here till you rot!"

Cyborg was unmoved, "Um, whatever man but I really am not in the mood for it." The figure charged up to Cyborg without any further talk and slashed its sword mercilessly. Cyborg ducked to avoid getting hit and instead swept the figure off its feet with a blast from his sonic cannon. The figure stood back up and didn't even seem remotely injured. Instead it tried to hit Cyborg by repeatedly by slashing its sword in every direction.

Cyborg was now constantly on the defensive, and he was getting frustrated with the lack of progress. No matter what he tried, he just couldn't sink a good hit against his foe. On the other hand, this entity was putting up quite a fight. The figure tried a slash then followed by a stab, which connected with Cyborg's chest but wasn't strong enough to pierce the metal. This only caused the mechanical teen to fill up with pure rage against the poor entity.

"Oh you did not just scratch my tech did you!" Cyborg yelled out, looking at his slightly dented chest plate. The figure got slightly frightened but still tried its best to get rid of its target. However, Cyborg seemed to have enough of this petty brawl, so he blasted his sonic cannon right through the area where he presumed the figure's vital organs must be. Instead of dieing, the figure split it two after the initial hit, reforming as two smaller clones.

Both clones laughed aloud. "Sorry, we're not exactly... human," the figures said in unison, both running up to Cyborg with smaller swords than the original. However, their current height, which was about a foot less, was a major disadvantage as now Cyborg towered over them with ease.

"Chew on this!" Cyborg exclaimed, firing his cannon at the heads of both figures, which once again cloned into more smaller entities. There were now four figures running around Cyborg like little children. The mechanical teen simply rolled his eyes and fired one last round of his sonic cannon at the tiny figures, vaporizing them for good. "Ok, that was almost _too_ easy..." he said to himself.

Upon the defeat of the watery figure, the bars lifted themselves off of both doors, allowing access further into the temple. Cyborg didn't waste any time in proceeding to the next room.

* * *

(Other hallway) 

Beastboy and Terra's trek down the spiraling hallway was uneventful. However, their luck changed once they passed into the room beyond the hallway. This room was about as big as a football field and filled with tons of traps ranging from electric fences to various pits. Directly in front of the two Titans was a deep pit, about fifteen feet wide, that went along the perimeter of the room. The pit was filled with water that contained some kind of strange fish, which the two presumed to be deadly. The only way across this pit was via a small wooden bridge. Not taking any chances, Terra summoned a boulder for them to use to cross the pit without risking the bridge collapsing on them.

"Oh great," Beastboy sighed as they landed across the pit. They were now facing an electric fence that extended from one wall to the opposite, completely eliminating the possibility of going around it. The fence also reached the ceiling of this room, which meant that flying over wasn't an option anymore. However, there were a few shallow tunnels under the fence that would allow a fairly thin person to squeeze through. Beastboy would have no problem going through this obstacle considering that he could morph into a snake and slither through the tunnel. Terra, however, would need to go through without any aid. Also, destroying the fence was too risky as it could fall onto the two Titans and electrocute them to death.

Beastboy, as planned, morphed into a snake and slipped through the dug out tunnel with ease. "I think you could fit through there, it's not that bad," the changeling said after he returned to his human form, knowing that this was no time to fool around.

"I just hope you're right," Terra said, taking one more deep breath and slowly sliding into the tunnel. She was about three fourths of the way through when the fence emitted a loud, electric hum. Both Titans looked up only to see a horizontal line of high voltage sluggishly descending the fence as though it was cleaning it. Terra went wide-eyed anime style, panic taking over her, "BB get me outta here!"

Beastboy didn't want her to rush the rest of the way since one wrong move would surely kill her, so he instead tried to calm her down, "Just take it easy, that thing still is kinda far," he said, managing to calm the blonde teen down somewhat. With a little help from Beastboy, she was almost completely out, but the line of electricity was about a foot away from her by now. Seeing this, Beastboy took a risk and pulled her out the rest of the way very quickly, praying that he succeeded. Indeed he did, with little time to spare as the line completed its descend a second after Terra climbed out.

"Ok, that's the last time I'm going through any cheap tunnels," Terra commented, hugging Beastboy to show her thanks.

"Yeah, but I think there's more where that came from," Beastboy said, looking ahead. Unfortunately, he was right as the next, and final, obstacle they faced was probably more difficult than the previous. The two approached another pit, this one containing multiple spikes of steel on the bottom. Over the pit hung another electric fence, which disallowed flying over this pit. Spanning the pit was a lone wooden plank, which needed to be used in order to cross successfully. There was only about five feet of space between the plank and fence, which would require careful crossing.

"Alright, I'll go first and make sure this plank is safe to cross," Beastboy said, refusing to risk Terra crossing a potentially unsafe piece of wood. The shape shifter had to be extra careful to fit in the allocated space, therefore his progress was slow, as also the plank was rather wobbly and only two feet wide. With much effort and patience, he made it to the other side. "Looks safe, just be careful when you start out," Beastboy said, finding this obstacle rather easy compared to the other two. Terra, following Beastboy's suggestions, also managed to cross, but at a much faster pace.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Beastboy teased, noting Terra's I'm-never-doing-this-kind-of-thing-ever-again look. She playfully punched his shoulder as a response. With the help of a summoned boulder, the two Titans completed crossing the other end of the pit that went around the room. They passed through the door that now faced them and found themselves in a small room that only had one thing worth noticing.

The room was probably the smallest in the temple. It was cubical and on the northern wall was a framed painting depicting a staircase, much like the one in the beginning of the temple. On the opposite side of where they came in stood another door.

"So... what's up with this painting?" Beastboy asked, not really sure that the painting was intentionally supposed to be here.

"Beats me, probably just a trick or something," Terra said, not noticing anything special about it. "I think we should just go through that..." She was cut off, however, as the door that Terra was planning on going through opened, revealing Cyborg standing on the other side.

Both parties were rather surprised. "Yo, I didn't know that both hallways led to the same room," Cyborg said, "I bet yours was probably 'easy' to get through."

"Dude, you don't wanna know..." Beastboy said, recalling the room with all the traps, "Anyway, we found this painting on the wall here. Look familiar?"

Cyborg took a moment to analyze it. "Oh yeah, it's that same staircase that we tried to get up when we first came here!" The mechanical teen found this rather suspicious. "I think that this is kinda strange ya'll," he added.

The Titans agreed, but there was nothing secret about it; no hidden switches nor anything else for that matter. Beastboy was eager just to leave this room and go check out the rest of the temple, thinking that this room was just pointless. "Alright, I seriously had enough standing around. Let's just go somewhere else," With that, Beastboy waved his hands in defeat, but one of his hands hit the painting and threw it off the wall. He soon stopped after he realized what was behind it. It appeared that the painting was covering up a hole in the wall that was about three feet wide and four feet high. In that hole was a lone, unlit candle.

"Um, should I light this damn thing?" Cyborg asked rhetorically, knowing that this candle was probably unlit for a reason. He used his sonic cannon to spark a small flame on the candle, causing it to light up. As soon as he did that, a loud, blood boiling roar could be heard all over the temple, and the painting, which showed the darkness covering up the stairs, changed to show a new landing on top.

The Titans noted the changed painting which still was knocked down on the floor, knowing that the barrier, as well as possibly a new foe, was not far away...

* * *

So there you have chapter 18. :P Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter; stick around for more. :) 


	19. The Power of Water

And here's chapter 19 for ya. :) Once again, this is pretty much one big battle scene. I think I'll try to vary these kinda chapters sometime in the future, but for now I guess this will have to do. ;) Enjoy.

**Hotshot45**: Thanks. :P

**D-I-WaRrIa**: Thanks for the review. :) I'll reunite the Titans kinda soon since I'm a bit lazy when it comes to splitting them up. ;) And about that deleted review thing: don't worry about it. Actually I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out, but either way it doesn't matter. ;P The only kind of review that does tick me off is one like this:

"Hey GenericX! You are a ( insert long string of curse words here ) !"

So in other words: don't worry about it. ;)

**Forlorn Melody**: Thanks. I'm thinking about adding some more dramatic moments into this fic, but my other story is pretty much going to be based on arguments and mistrust. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

Chapter 19: The Power of Water (heh, very corny title indeed)

* * *

The three Titans rushed to the staircase that they omitted before. Sure enough, the darkness that hung over the stairs now vanished, giving way to a landing not too far up. "I guess the bad guy is up there," Beastboy said as they climbed the stairs. 

On the landing stood a lone door made of wood, making it seem insignificant. Cyborg pushed it open and the three proceeded in. However, instead of finding themselves in another room with torches and doors, the three Titans were jerked down through the floor by some unseen force upon entry.

"Yo what gives?" Cyborg asked, rather annoyed. The three Titans found themselves in a square room the size of a baseball field in each dimension. The walls were made of large indigo colored stone blocks. Water that was a foot deep filled the place and torches only hung from the corners of the room, casting eerie shadows which made for a creepy scene. Additionally, the musty smell of the stagnant water sickened the Titans to the point that they had to stop themselves from even looking at it. Other than that, there was nothing else worth noting about this room. Worse yet, there were no doors or any other means of getting out from this place.

Beastboy was starting to get paranoid, "Dudes what if we're stuck here forever?" Terra sighed and was obligated to slap him out of his hysterical state.

"Well, any ideas about what to next?" Terra asked rhetorically, not excepting anyone to know. Indeed they were stumped.

"Um, what if I just blast a wall and us three get out of this place?" Cyborg said in an obvious tone.

Terra agreed, "Worth a try." Cyborg powered up his sonic cannon and attempted to blast the adjacent wall, but his beam had no effect. Instead, a loud roar could be heard all over the room that put the Titans on their guard. Most likely the creature watching over the temple was about to show up, and none of the Titans were in the mood to fight it.

"This can't be good..." Beastboy trailed off was the water in the room started vibrating. As though it had a mind of its own, the water starting flocking to the center of the massive room where it grouped together. After a short moment, all of the water merged into what seemed to be a creature similar looking to Overload, with the exception of the electricity. The creature's body was made completely of water (no surprises there) along with a pair of turquoise eyes. Two bulky arms and legs formed from the body directly after the completion of the eyes, and the water monster poised itself for battle.

"You're not leaving this room alive," the creature said in a low voice, "The barrier shall remain in tact and I, Castform, will make sure that you fail in attempting to destroy it..."

"Um, how did you know that we were after the barrier?" Beastboy asked, looking rather surprised that the creature knew their target.

Castform replied, "Because I sensed you scum in _my_ temple! And for that you'll pay with your lives!" Without another word, Castform fired a powerful stream of water at the group, causing the Titans to split up, forming a triangle around the creature. Castform seemed to expect this, so he shot three more streams at each of the Titans with one arm. The Titans easily dodged the intended attack, but Castform fired an additional three streams directly after with his other arm, which caught the Titans off guard.

"Muhaha!" Castform laughed as the Titans were sent flying into the walls from the impact of the streams, "This is going to be very easy indeed."

Cyborg growled with frustration, "Oh I don't think so." He quickly powered up his sonic cannon to maximum and let loose a beam more powerful than he ever managed. But much to Cyborg's shock, the beams simply was absorbed by Castform as though it didn't even exist. "How did you... do that?" the mechanical teen asked, lost for words.

"One word: water," Castform replied, "Everyone takes if for granted, but if used properly, it can be the most devastating thing the cosmos has ever exhibited." Cyborg was overcome with anger at this point, so he fired a few more beams, but none of them got anywhere except into Castform himself.

Beastboy recovered from the hit and quickly morphed into a rhinoceros. He charged at breakneck speeds at one of Castform's legs. Instead of making contact and throwing his target off balance, the shape shifter passed right through the watery leg and ended up a few feet away. Castform swung one of his arms at Beastboy which connected with the changeling's chest, causing him to go flying into the roof.

Terra tried a new approach. After seeing both Cyborg's and Beastboy's attacks end up with negative results, the geomancer was determined not to fail. She summoned two large slabs of stone from the walls and commanded them to fly to opposite sides of Castform. Summoning a third piece of stone, she positioned it directly in front of Castform. "Hey ugly, eat this!" Terra yelled out, which partially distracted the water creature. She threw the smallest stone that she summoned last headway into Castform, which he blocked with one arm, just as Terra wanted it to happen. Seeing that her target was vulnerable for a split second, the geomancer brought the two slabs that were on opposite sides together with extreme force. Her plan was successful. Castform didn't have enough time to defend himself against the oncoming attack, and as a result the two bulks of stone crashed together, sandwiching his head. The impact caused Castform to wander around aimlessly, apparently in pain.

The remaining Titans took this to their advantage. Cyborg fired his cannon once more, this time aiming for Castform's head, which turned out to be his weak point. Upon contact of the beam, the water creature fell to the ground with force. The initial collision with the stone floor literally shattered Castform into four entities, each of them reforming into smaller Castforms thereafter.

"I see that you've found out where to strike," one of the Castforms said, "But I'm not the only one that you'll have to fight here so even if I fail, then my ally will take my place..." The Titans look puzzled, but now was not the time for questions.

Beastboy rebutted with an determined tone, "Doesn't matter who we have to fight; we'll defeat anything in our way."

Another Castform chuckled, "We'll just see, but I still have a task to accomplish!" Two of the Castforms merged into one slightly larger creature. This left two smaller Castforms and one larger version. Seeing that Cyborg was the biggest and strongest of the three Titans, the larger Castform went after him. The other two split up between Beastboy and Terra.

"If we could take down your main form, then I can easily whoop your ass," Cyborg said to the Castform he was facing. Cyborg fired his sonic cannon without any further talk at the head of the water creature. Sure enough, the beam connected with Castform's head, causing the creature to shriek in pain.

Castform didn't take long to recover, "Let's see if you can manage to attack me now!" The creature morphed itself into a new form. This time its true head was not visible as the creature's form consisted of two legs, two arms, and a round body with what appeared to be five heads protruding along the sides.

"Actually you've made it much easier for me," Cyborg smirked, taking a shot at one of the heads. However, his smile faded as the beam was absorbed by the head as if it was the actual body.

The disfigured Castform laughed, "Oh yeah, but four of these heads aren't real, so I doubt you'll have an easy time getting rid of me now." The water creature attacked by shooting jets of water out of each head, its body rotating at high speeds. This created a constant jet of water flying out in every direction. Having no way to doge it, Cyborg was hit several times into the chest.

'This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought...' Cyborg thought to himself. Now that there were five heads, the job of hitting the real head just became much harder. And since the creature moved around often, it would be impossible to tell which head was the real one and which was fake. In order to defeat this monster, Cyborg would have to rely on a whole lot of luck, or better yet, right judgment. This meant that as soon as he struck the right head, he would have to repeatedly hit it over and over again as not to lose sight of it. "Here goes nothing," the mechanical teen said, hopping to his feet.

"Back for more I see," Castform jeered, "Well then, bring it on!" The water creature rotated several times as to confuse his foe before doing anything. He then fired a powerful jet of water from one of the heads and both arms. The combined jets missed Cyborg by a mile, which bought the teen a few seconds to strike. Cyborg powered up his cannon and let loose a test shot at one of the heads. The targeted head just absorbed the beam, which pretty much invalidated that one as a candidate for the real head.

Castform whirled back to attack position and sent another stream of water at Cyborg. This time the stream made contact with one of Cyborg's legs, causing him to temporarily lose balance. The water creature shot several jets at the stumbling Titan, but they were blocked by Cyborg's cannon. In the meantime, Cyborg took another shot at a hopefully different head, but that shot was also absorbed. Castform now swung his arms wildly, one of them managing to smack Cyborg in the head. The impact was insignificant as Cyborg just brushed the pain off without a problem, his determination to fend off this menace helping him out.

The mechanical teen tried another shot at one of the five heads, and this time the creature recoiled in pain as the beam wasn't absorbed and instead hit the proper head. "Booyah!" Cyborg exclaimed, seeing his foe scream in pain. But Cyborg put his celebration on pause as he knew that time was of the essence. While the creature was still groaning in pain, Cyborg fired multiple shots that easily collided into the real head, throwing Castform into further pain. Eventually the damage was enough for the water elemental, and Castform burst into tiny drops of water that scattered all over the place, never to become a creature ever again. "Well that was challenging..." Cyborg admitted with a smile on his face.

While Cyborg was just starting out with his share of Castform, Beastboy was preparing to fight his assigned one. Unlike the one Cyborg was dealing with, this entity was much smaller which put it on an equal level of combat with the changeling. Beastboy began his attack by morphing in a kangaroo and attempting to kick the creature in his chest. But just like before, Beastboy simply flew right through Castform without leaving a scratch.

"You never learn from your mistakes, do you?" Castform sneered, amused to see Beastboy fail once again. The water creature instead created a ball of swirling water and chucked it at the changeling, who at the time was not expecting an attack. The waterball hit Beastboy square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Castform then swung his arms repeatedly at the downed changeling, throwing him around in various directions. After one particularly bad swing by Castform, Beastboy nimbly managed to scramble to his feet before he could be thrown down again. To avoid getting hit again, the changeling morphed into a hummingbird and flew to the other side of Castform where he morphed into an elephant, slamming one of his feet hard down on Castform's body. The water creature cried in agony and tried to regain its composure after his body was crushed.

Castform replied with much hate in his voice after recovering from the attack, "So it looks like you have a slight advantage over me, but no matter. I'll still beat you down with experience."

Beastboy returned to his human form, "What experience? This is like the first time anyone has every fought you!"

"See that's where you're wrong," Castform replied, "Many have already tried to break the barrier maintained by this temple, but all have failed and never come out to see the sunlight again, or rather whatever light is left in this dead world. And guess who was responsible for the deaths of those people? Me." The water creature laughed maniacally after finishing his short speech, taking in a few minutes to grasp the horrified expression on the changeling's face.

"Well, I'll personally make sure that their deaths will be avenged," Beastboy said through gritted teeth. He unleashed all the anger that had built up as a result of Castform revealing the lives that many people lost trying to get past him. The changeling morphed into an octopus and jumped into the air, rotating his body in such a fashion that all the tentacles smacked into Castform's head, erasing the smile that he had a few seconds ago. The repeated hits from Beastboy left the water creature temporarily stunned for some time, which the shape shifter used to his advantage. Now that Castform was dazed and not really paying attention to what was going on, Beastboy once again morphed into an elephant and stomped on Castform's body several times until the watery creature gave one more shriek and reduced itself to harmless water.

"And stay dead," Beastboy said, watching that last of Castform disintegrate into water.

Meanwhile, Terra was dueling the final clone of Castform. "Try as you might little girl, but eventually you will succumb to my power!" The water creature said with energy, attempting to daunt his foe.

Terra replied viciously, "Actually I think it's gonna be the other way around." She summoned a boulder from the wall and chucked it at Castform, who swept it away with a single arm. Using his free hand, Castform fabricated a bundle of waterballs which he then threw at Terra. The geomancer managed to avoid a couple of them, but eventually she lost concentration and got pelted with the remaining projectiles.

"It's a shame," Castform said, looking menacingly at the downed Titan, "I seriously expected better from you considering how you beat my first form." This far from discouraged Terra, but instead amplified her determination to remove this vile creature from the planet. While Castform was busy mocking her, Terra summoned a boulder from behind her target, sending it flying with tremendous force. Now it was Castform who received the powerful blow to his left leg, which practically lamed the creature for a moment.

"Likewise," Terra said, pleased with her efforts, "I expected you to be more aware." Castform howled in agony as jolts of searing pain overwhelmed his body, though how this was possible Terra didn't know. Now that the opposition was temporarily disabled, Terra summoned more boulders which she hovered directly over Castform. Taking a quick breath to gain energy, Terra brought the dozen boulders down with all the force she could muster. Castform watched helplessly as the giant rocks came crashing down on him, but not before he could split into two more smaller clones. Terra was rather annoyed that her attack didn't finish him off, but then again Castform had to sacrifice strength for life in the sense that these two clones were severely weaker than their previous form. The two Castforms, which were now half the original size, charged at Terra with arms extended, hoping to land a few good punches. Their attempts were all for naught, however, as Terra summoned another boulder which she used as a platform to levitate herself to safer grounds.

'This is taking _way_ too long,' Terra thought, tired of having to deal with this obvious nuisance. The two clones resorted to launching streams of water at the geomancer, but Terra used a few summoned slabs of stone to block the attack. She countered by summoning a particularly large rock from above the clones, which she brought down with equal force as before. This seemed to finish off the clones as they found themselves crushed by the stone, unable to replicate any further. A puddle of water leaked out from under the fallen stone, signaling the death of Castform all together .

"Well I guess that's it," Cyborg said after the Titans regrouped, "But what was that nonsense he said about fighting one of his allies or something?"

Beastboy shrugged it off, "Probably lying just to scare us."

Just as the changeling finished his sentence, the familiar voice of Castform echoed in the room. "Oh I wasn't lying Titans, your troubles are just beginning," the voice continued, "Even though I fell, there will be much harder guardians that will surely kill you all."

"Dude, we beat you, so we can beat anything else," Beastboy said boldly.

The voice laughed slightly, "That's because you had an advantage over me. I sense that your other friends also had an advantage over the Abyssal Shadow, and this all came down to luck."

Terra rolled her eyes, "Luck or no luck, the fact remains that we still killed you. So even if we aren't lucky again, it won't matter cause we _will_ destroy all the barriers."

"Oh really?" the voice of Castform questioned, "Well think what you want, but I advise you to just surrender. You may claim the Water Barrier, but trust me: my master will avenge my death in due time." The voice laughed powerfully and faded away into the background.

The Titans were rather unmoved by Castform's words. "That guy seriously has some mental issues to work out," Cyborg said, disregarding Castform's apparent warning.

"Yeah I know," Beastboy replied, "But now how do we get to the barrier from here?" His question was answered by a tremor that overtook the room. In the wall most opposite to the Titans, a lone crack formed which eventually gave way to a metal door on the other side. The Titans saw their goal in sight, so they advanced to the door and proceeded in.

The group of three found themselves in a small room, only about a few yards in each dimension, with what appeared to be the barrier in front of them. Moss covered most of the walls here along with another foot of water on the ground. The barrier itself was a large blue beam that channeled through a hole in the floor to another gap in the ceiling. Embedded in the blue beam was a large diamond shaded turquoise that hovered about half way from the floor to the roof. The Titans goggled at the sight for some time before snapping back to reality.

"Ok, now what?" Beastboy said, unsure of how to deactivate the barrier.

Cyborg thought for a moment, "I'll try to blast the beam with my sonic cannon, maybe that will do something." Having nothing to lose, the mechanical teen shot a single round from his cannon at the barrier, but it had no effect whatsoever. "Ok, scratch that," Cyborg said in defeat.

"Well maybe that diamond thing has something to do with it?" Beastboy proposed, noting that the turquoise structure looked peculiar.

Cyborg agreed, "Yeah I guess so. Hey Terra, try smacking that thing with a rock or something." Terra obliged, summoning a decent sized boulder which she immediately threw with some force at the diamond. Just like in the Jungle Temple, the diamond structure burst into thousands of minuscule pieces that littered the room. The blue beam that once flowed peacefully started to break up and eventually halted. A small column of stone rose from the hole in the ground, bearing a small sapphire which Beastboy went up and grabbed without a second thought.

"Alright, now what is this for?" Beastboy asked, staring at the blue gem in his hand.

"Dunno," Cyborg replied, unsure of the gem's purpose, "But I say that we should just save it for later. Who knows, it might come in useful one way or another." The changeling did so and handed the gem over to Terra who placed it in one of her pockets.

A light started to fill the room not long after Beastboy took the gem. "Um, what's happening?" Terra asked, noticing something shining around the group. The Titans found themselves surrounded by a blue aura, which shortly teleported them outside to the entrance of the temple.

"Woah, now that was weird," Cyborg said, disliking the effects of being teleported, "But at least we got that damn barrier over with."

"Yeah, but where are we now?" Terra pointed out, seeing that they were in a new location.

Beastboy looked around to get an image of this place. The Titans where standing on the shore of a huge lake that was only half filled with water which was slightly green in color. The lake itself was massive; it's radius spanning about the size of ten soccer fields. In the center was a rocky island that also had an old stone bridge connecting it to the mainland. On that island stood an opening to a cave about six feet in height and seven feet wide, which Beastboy presumed to be the entrance to the Water Temple. Handfuls of dead trees were in the area, surrounded by a large forest not far away that seemed to go around the perimeter of the lake. Additionally, a lone dirt path led the way out of the lake area and over the fields of the World of Darkness.

"I'm guessing this is the lake that Karthor mentioned before we set off," Beastboy said, trying to recall what the elderly man said before the group of teenagers departed for the Jungle Temple, "And I bet this path leads straight to Emporia."

Cyborg and Terra thought it over and agreed that it was best just to follow the path and see where it would take them to. "At least we'll have some good news that the Water Barrier is broken when we get back," the mechanical teen said as the trio followed the path.

"Yeah but I hope the others are fine," Terra said, praying that Robin and the others managed to destroy the Jungle Barrier.

Beastboy reassured her, "Don't worry, I bet they did already. Besides, I think that we're going to right way." The changeling pointed to a castle and civilization wedged between two mountainous sides not far away.

"Yup, that's obvious Emporia," Cyborg said cheerfully, happy that he'll be finally getting some decent rest.

Beastboy was rather overjoyed as well. "Told ya not to worry," he said to Terra, who in turn simply kissed him on the cheek. The two teens linked their hands, happy just to be in each other's presence, and followed the path that led to their temporary home.

Cyborg half chuckled at the sight, "Hey lovebirds! Try not to make me barf!" Beastboy and Terra weren't amused with the mechanical teen's uncalled for outburst. They ended up chasing Cyborg at full speed all the way to Emporia, threatening to cut off his power supply once they returned.

* * *

(Emporia Castle) 

"What is the Titans' progress as of now?" King Smilax asked one of his most important mages. Both were standing standing on the balcony that overlooked the town below them. The sun was just setting, and a group of three people could be seen heading down a dirt pathway that led to the city's main gates.

"Castform has sent word that the Water Barrier is destroyed, my King," the mage said.

King Smilax was pleased with the report, "Excellent, excellent. It is only a matter of time now until we can execute our plan."

"Indeed, and those fools don't even suspect a thing," the mage replied in agreement, bowing and leaving King Smilax on his command.

"Just a few more to go, and your job will be done, Titans," King Smilax said before retiring for the day.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it. :) Please drop a review if you have the time. ;) Well anyways now that school is almost over, I can write more chapters for my fics faster than before. Just one more day left, then I can kick back and watch all 6 episodes of Star Wars to celebrate. :) 

See ya next chapter.


	20. An Enemy Within

How's it going? Yeah I know it took ages to post this chapter up, but I hope that it was worth the wait. Anyways, I may or may not update in the following weeks since my mom's got a whole ton of things planned that I really don't want to participate in. But heh, I can't argue my way out of this one. ;) Ok enough rambling, on with the story!

**Hotshot45**: Thanks again. :)

**D-I-WaRrIa**: Nah not everyone, only the evil group of people. ;) Anyways, I didn't get to see Batman Begins (or any or movie in a while) lately, but I'm hoping to watch it soon. Thanks for the review, and I hope your last weeks of school go by fast. ;D And yeah, I am a guy. :P (Dunno if I already mentioned that before)

**teentitantruefriend**: Thanks for the compliment. :) And thanks again for reviewing!

**taylor**: Thanks, I still have a few more chapters to go before this fic is done. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

Chapter 20: An Enemy Within

* * *

Cyborg, Beastboy, and Terra arrived at Emporia shortly after sunset. The main streets were magnificently lit up in a variety of colors from the many shops that lined them. People still filled town at this time, though things were starting to wind down. 

"Welcome back, Titans!" Karthor greeted the trio as they arrived at the castle's main hall, "So I assume that your efforts at the Jungle Temple were a success then, yes?" The Titans found it hard to reveal what really happened, knowing that the elder would soon be quite unhappy.

"Err, not exactly," Beastboy said, "You see, something sorta happened when we were fighting the temple guardian. It goes like this..." The Titans told Karthor everything that occurred, right down to every minuscule detail. The elder was rather shocked upon hearing their claim.

Karthor sighed, "Well, this really didn't turn out the way in which we intended it to. But at least the Water Barrier has been destroyed; one of the seven is finished for good."

"I just hope that the others were successful at the Jungle Temple," Terra said, still oblivious to the fate of the remainder of the team.

"Now that I think about it, I wouldn't worry too much," Karthor said, gaining curious faces from the three Titans, "Earlier today I saw a flash of green that was emitted from the forest, which probably means that the Jungle Barrier was disposed of."

"Really!" Cyborg exclaimed, quite overjoyed at this sliver of hope.

Karthor nodded in the affirmative. "Yes, but many things could have still obstructed their way back here, so we can't assume everything will be fine just yet. Anyway, the rest of the day is yours. Feel free to relax and enjoy this brief rest from your quest." Karthor waved and left the hall.

"Do you think Robin and the others really did break that barrier?" Beastboy inquired his friends.

"Well if Karthor said he saw that flash or whatever, then it must be true," Cyborg said, "Aight ya'll, I gotta go recharge; that temple took a whole lot of power outta me." With that, the mechanical teen set off for his room elsewhere in the castle.

Terra already started off for the giant open doorway of the castle, "Hey BB, I'm going back to town. Wanna come with me?" She gave him an irresistible face which the changeling could not turn down.

* * *

(A few miles from Emporia) 

"I'm telling you, we should go find the others before leaving," Raven argued as the group of teens headed along a familiar path that led to the World of Darkness's only large civilization.

Robin countered, "We already know that they aren't in the temple. What's the point of even going back there for nothing?"

"But what if they are? We can't just let them rot there!"

"Yeah but what if they already returned back to Emporia, one way or another?" Raven didn't argue that point and remained silent, "If they aren't there, then we'll go back."

Raven gave in, "Alright then."

Starfire was looking uneasily at the two of them, "We shouldn't be wasting time arguing about these sort of things. I'm sure that when we find our lost friends, then we can really extract revenge on the temple guardians!" Her mood seemed to cheer both Robin and Raven up. The rest of the trip back to Emporia was silent and uneventful; no creature attacked the group along the way.

"Finally, we have arrived!" Starfire exclaimed as the group reached the main front gate of Emporia. The guards, already knowing their purpose, let the Titans through without any question. It was almost nighttime by now, and the streets were becoming exponentially less crowded by the minute. This allowed easy passage for the three Titans as they made their way up the street leading directly to the castle.

"I don't know how we will break the news to Smilax and Karthor," Raven said in her regular monotone voice, "Um, don't those two people look like Beastboy and Terra?" The dark witch pointed at two people standing by a shop that was selling various foods unknown to Earth.

Starfire immediately identified them, "It's them! Our friends are safe!" Robin and Raven watched in amusement as Starfire sneaked up on Beastboy and Terra and gathered them in one of her trademark backbreaking hugs.

"Um, it's good to see you too, Star," the changeling managed to say, trying to break free of Starfire's unreal strength.

"Yeah, but it would also be nice to breathe, too" Terra arduously said, relieved upon getting released.

Starfire could not contain her happiness, "I apologize for my uncalled for hug, but I am overjoyed at the fact that you are safe! But where is Cyborg?"

Beastboy was stilled recovering, "Oh, tin man is back at the castle recharging," he said, "And don't worry, he's alright as well."

"It's great to see that you're still alive," Robin added, "But what happened when you fell down that platform back when we were still fighting the Abyssal Shadow?"

"We'll tell you once we get back to the castle," Terra said, "it's getting sorta dark out here." Indeed, night was close at hand, which prompted the (once again) reunited Titans to return to Emporia's castle.

* * *

(Outside the castle) 

King Smilax and Karthor were slowly circling the castle, deep in discussion. "I'm concerned about the missing Titans," Karthor said, voicing his concern.

"But I'm not," Smilax said, earning a look of disapproval from Karthor, "because they are approaching us as we speak." Indeed, the group of five Titans, including Robin, Starfire, and Raven, was on their way to the castle's main entrance. King Smilax and Karthor rushed over to meet them. "It's great to see that you survived!" the king said, apparently overjoyed to see the teens.

"Likewise," Karthor said, leading the group into the dining hall which was now set up for the supper meal. Various foods lined the buffet tables, many of which looked very appetizing to the hungry teenagers. Everyone grabbed something to eat and sat down at a specially prepared table.

Robin decided to bring up the subject of the Titans' fight with the Abyssal Shadow midway through the meal. "So anyway, what exactly did happen back when we fought the Shadow?"

"Personally, I'm not sure," Terra said, taking drink of water, "It was like we blacked out and then found ourselves in the Water Temple." Terra proceeded on to tell the rest of the events that took place in the temple.

King Smilax was pleased with the results. "Excellent, so this means that two barriers are now taken care of. This just leaves us with five more," he said, "But to make your lives easier, I'm going to organize a group of skilled warriors to take out one of the other temples." The Titans gladly accepted the king's help, relieving their burden ever so slightly.

Just as supper was coming to a close, a person that the Titans didn't see before came through the main hall's entrance. He was just under six feet tall and appeared to be about Robin's age. He wore dark brown baggy material pants that went down to his jet colored boots. On his upper body, he wore a fairly thick, long sleeved, black hooded shirt. A gray belt lined with various primitive explosives went diagonally across his chest, starting from his left shoulder to down and around the right side of his waist. The young man's face had brown eyes along with moderately short silver hair spiked upwards. His right ear was pierced with a silver ring and he sported a long crimson sword, about five feet in length, with an elaborately crafted handle containing a few emeralds and sapphires. Upon entry, he looked around with confusion at the Titans.

King Smilax noticed the person immediately. "Ah yes. Titans, I would like you to meet my son, Shi'voc," the king said proudly, "And Shi'voc, these are the Teen Titans. They arrived here through a portal from the planet Earth."

"Nice to meet you," Shi'voc said in a smooth voice, "Um, where exactly is this Earth anyway?"

Karthor chuckled, "Rather far away from here. But you see, they are helping us to destroy the seven barriers."

"Seriously?" Shi'voc was rather shocked, "This means that we can liberate this planet from the evil that controls it now!"

"Exactly," King Smilax said, pleased to know that Shi'voc remembered about the barriers, "And they already managed to destroy two of them in the Jungle and Water temples. Additionally, I'll make sure that Emporia's finest warriors take care of the Fire Temple."

Shi'voc was completely overjoyed. "Excellent! So with three down, that just leaves four to go. They hopefully shouldn't be too much trouble."

"I agree," King Smilax replied, "But for now, let's put this entire business to rest. I assume you Titans must be exhausted from the constant fighting, so I recommend you take the next day to rest. How about it?"

The Titans, rather surprised by the king's hospitality, accepted without question.

"Then it's settled," Karthor said, standing up along with everyone else, "Anyway, it's late. We'll you see in during the morning feast."

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Shi'voc," Robin said before he departed for his room.

"Same with me," Shi'voc said with a friendly smile, himself retiring for the day.

* * *

(Robin's room) 

Sleep didn't come to the Boy Wonder easily. His nights were plagued by the same nightmare that he experienced during his first night here. Except that each time it was getting clearer and clearer almost as though it was trying to warn him. And this night was no different...

Robin felt himself go flying into a wall as Acrimon's spell struck him. "What the hell are you doing here?" Acrimon demanded.

The Boy Wonder replied with anger, "Why did you throw Starfire down there! She didn't even do anything to you!"

"Because she interfered with us for the last time," Breaker said in his strangely human voice, "So one way was to kill her and move along with our plans."

"What plans? What is going on here!" Robin replied, tears of hatred starting to fall down his face. Quite frankly, Robin didn't understand what was going on here at all. Wasn't King Smilax supposed to be helping them? And how did Breaker get in the World of Darkness in the first place?

King Smilax sighed impatiently. "I can't believe that you didn't see this coming," he elaborated, "I have no interest in your well being, nor about the safety of your team. Put it this way: I needed you to do something that I couldn't."

"And that would be?" Robin demanded.

Acrimon rolled his eyes, "To break the barriers you moron. Isn't it obvious that Smilax is a bit... out of shape for this type of journey? Shi'voc would be capable, but he wouldn't dare betray the trust he has with the people of Emporia. Therefore Firesprite sent you over here to complete my side of his bargain."

The Boy Wonder was shocked to hear this. "You... you know Firesprite?"

"No kidding," Acrimon said, "I'm his damn brother for crying out loud! And the only way for him to..."

"Brother!" Robin blurted out, unable to contain himself, "That's a lie!"

Acrimon chuckled, "Why don't you ask him yourself? Oh wait, that's right! You won't be seeing him ever again because I'm going to rip you to shreds on the spot!" The warrior unsheathed his sword and attempted to slice Robin's throat. The Boy Wonder tried to pull out his staff to block the attack, but it was too late...

Robin screamed as he woke up in a cold sweat once again. "Not again..." he groaned, placing his head in his hands in an attempt to fend off the sharp headache that came over him. "I'm probably just hallucinating, but that nightmare won't stop. Maybe I'll just walk it off or something." And with that, the Boy Wonder quickly got dressed and quietly headed outside.

* * *

(Castle courtyard) 

'Man, why do these nightmares keep coming up?' Robin pondered, walking around the various stone paths that crisscrossed the elegant courtyard, which was occupied with fountains and carefully trimmed plants, 'It's like they are trying to tell me something...' The Boy Wonder was startled when he heard footsteps behind him. Upon turning around, Robin discovered that no one was there. "What? Am I hallucinating again?" he said aloud, getting rather paranoid. However, the more Robin walked around, the louder the footsteps became. Deciding enough was enough, the Boy Wonder started heading back to the castle.

"Going somewhere?" A voice rang out in the courtyard, prompting Robin to immediately stop. He looked around once more, but there was not a soul in the courtyard. However, Robin did a double take when he saw someone moving around in the shadows near one of the fountains.

"Who... who are you?" Robin asked, seeing the person walk into the light of the castle. The Boy Wonder's eyes widened as he recognized the figure to be the same one he saw talking with King Smilax a few days ago... and in his dream where Starfire was murdered by him. The man's face was cloaked under the shadow of his helmet, light not daring to reveal his facial features.

The person laughed, "Don't even try to tell me that you weren't _spying_ on my conversation with Smilax, because I know you were... Robin."

The Boy Wonder was taken back when the person said his name. "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really now?" the person said, "The name's Acrimon, I'm sure you've heard it before." Robin registered that name, remembering King Smilax mention it in that same conversation. "Anyway, I don't appreciate you eavesdropping on a private discussion." He had a tone of pure anger when he said that statement. Robin didn't know how to rebut his claims considering that he did indeed spy on Acrimon and King Smilax's conversation.

Robin swallowed loudly, "So why exactly are you telling me this?" There was just something about Acrimon that sent chills running down Robin's spine.

Acrimon shook his head, unsheathing the sharp-edged sword that he carried with him, just like in the first dream Robin had. "You shall pay the ultimate price for that intrusion." The warrior lifted his sword and charged at Robin, swinging it hard horizontally. Robin was too stunned to run, and therefore received a shallow lateral cut across his chest. The Boy Wonder screamed out in pain, but quickly forced his unwilling arms to pull out his bo-staff.

"By wielding your weapon, I assume you aren't going to surrender," Acrimon said coolly, "So be it. Permit me to strike the second blow." The warrior brought his sword down on Robin, who blocked it with his staff.

"Look, I don't know who you are or what you want," Robin said, taking a moment to catch his breath, "But you're taking this way too far."

Acrimon laughed, "I dislike people like you, and unfortunately I am obligated to get rid of you," He then leaped into the air and slashed his sword diagonally as the warrior came straight for Robin. The Boy Wonder attempted to parry Acrimon's sword, but missed by a few inches, gaining another cut across his chest. By now, Robin was getting weaker by the second from loss of blood. "Don't tell me that you are already finished," Acrimon snickered, "I haven't even broken a sweat yet."

The Boy Wonder, however, refused to give up. He stood back up and poised his staff for battle, but Acrimon slashed him right back down. Robin was indeed out of options, and his only remaining choice was to get the other Titans down here. But without his communicator and drained energy, that was close to impossible. Acrimon walked over to the fallen hero and picked him up by his throat. "You have made a fatal mistake, my friend." The warrior then punched Robin square in the face with his other hand followed by a knee to the stomach. While Robin was doubled over gasping for air, Acrimon brought his elbow down with tremendous force on the Boy Wonder's back, knocking him on the ground. Using his sword, Acrimon sliced a deep vertical cut up Robin's left arm, causing even more blood to escape. By now Robin was completely maxed out; his fate rested solely in th hands of Acrimon. "This is the end of the road for you," the warrior said as he positioned his blood covered sword directly over Robin's throat. Acrimon hesitated, however, feeling a familiar presence behind him.

"Let him go," a voice said. Both Robin and Acrimon looked over to see that the voice belonged to Shi'voc, who looked ready to slaughter Robin's attacker. "I thought I killed you before, how the hell are you still here?" The young warrior inquired with hatred in his voice.

Acrimon looked rather pleased, "Do you really think that you can get rid of me that easily?" Without warning, Acrimon charged up to Shi'voc with his sword ready to decapitate the warrior. His attack was for naught, however, as Shi'voc easily dodged it and countered with a slash across Acrimon's back.

"Leave now, or I'll alert the rest of the castle," Shi'voc said in a cold tone.

Acrimon seemed to be at a loss, "That's exactly what I expected of you," he said with a smirk, "You can never fight anyone without having reinforcements there. We will meet again, and when we do, I'll personally make sure to end your pathetic and worthless life." With that, Acrimon vanished into thin air with a wave of his hand.

Shi'voc disregarded the threat. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking over at the bleeding Robin.

Robin barely managed to respond, "Not really, but a little sleep will make me good as new." Shi'voc didn't really see this as a time to be joking, and instead began to run back inside the castle. "Just stay there, I'll get help!" Robin nodded, hoping that Acrimon wouldn't decide to show up and take advantage of the situation. The time that elapsed since Shi'voc left for the castle felt like an eternity. As more blood was escaping Robin's body, he felt his eyelids begin to close...

"He's right there!" The Boy Wonder heard Shi'voc yell as a group of people came rushing over to him, including the other five Titans.

Starfire looked as though she would have a heart attack upon seeing the Boy Wonder in this form. "Robin! Who did this to you?"

Robin was struggling just to stay conscious, let alone answer Starfire's plea. "Acrimon..." was all that he could say before the lack of blood finally got to him. The last image he saw was that of Starfire's tear covered face...

* * *

Sorry it took so long to write this chapter; I've been on vacation lately so I didn't have enough time to get anything done. -.- Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for more. 


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